How One Man Can Wreck a State

by Kim D.

Remember that Ayn Rand predicted this - when the producer is taxed too much, he will leave. Whether hedge fund billionaire David Tepper is tired of the cold weather or carrying the state's tax burden, he is leaving the Garden State for a bit of sunshine:

A billionaire hedge fund manager's decision to quit New Jersey for Florida means the struggling state is set to miss out on a desperately-needed $140 million in income tax. David Tepper, 58, has listed a Miami Beach property as his permanent address and registered to vote in the Sunshine State as he bids to move his financial operations south. However, with an estimated worth of $11.4 billion, the decision has rocked income tax estimates in New Jersey where he has lived and operated for several decades.

When one man leaving the state has this kind of effect, it is time to start considering alternatives.

Frank Haines, a budget officer with the Office of Legislative Services, said: 'We may be facing an unusual degree of income-tax forecast risk,' Bloomberg News reported. This was due to the fact 40 per cent of the state's revenue comes from income taxes, and a third of this comes from the state's richest 1 percent.