Hey, New Jersey, Your Tax Base Is Too Narrow

David Tepper is a hedge fund manager whose company is located in New Jersey.  He is also a resident of the Garden State (misnomer alert). He recently announced that he was moving his corporate headquarters and his personal residence to Florida.  The NJ state budget director then stated that this move could affect the amount of tax revenues generated by NJ.  

For the record, NJ has the highest real estate taxes in the country, a state estate tax rate of 16%, only a $675,000 exemption for estate taxes (lowest/worst in the country), and a top income rate of 9%. Florida has no income tax and no estate tax, no Newark or Camden, but plenty of sunshine.  Some NJ legislators wish to revise the state tax code to retain residents like Tepper while others believe his move and others are a "blip" and do not warrant revision of the tax rates.

Three quick points:

1.  If the state is so dependent on the income of one individual, its tax base is too narrow and should be expanded to include more residents.

2.  Those NJ politicians who tell NJ residents to "fuhgeddaboudit" the NJ income and estate tax rates because they do not matter to people are delusional.

3.  Note to Bernie Sanders supporters, you can only tax people so much before they change their behavior to reduce their tax burden.  

Are Not All Former Spouses Bums?

After divorcing her husband of 10 years in 2014, Diane Wagner agreed to pay him $186/week in spousal support. When writing the checks to him, she has used the memo section to write “alimony/adult child support,” “bum,” “loser,” and “FOAD.” Her 61 year old ex-husband recently sued her on the grounds that her notations are causing him emotional distress and caused him to suffer a heart attack.

Several quick points:

1. Whenever a couple marries later in life, they should have a pre-nuptial agreement which would allow them to waive spousal support/alimony upon divorce.

2. I suspect that despite most media coverage about the notations on the check, the real source of the lawsuit is the $5,000 the husband’s bank accidentally deposited into a joint account which she quickly withdrew and refused to return.

3. I sheepishly admit I had to use Urban Dictionary to look up FOAD.

4. One person’s spunky fighter for freedom of speech is another man’s crazy ex-wife.