From the New York Sun:
Top New York Labor Leader Moves To Long Island, Saves $30,000 in City Income TaxesHasn't Bloomberg heard of the Laffer Curve. Sweeten the pot a bit, make taxes less onerous and you will see a big increase in revenues. It has worked every single time it has been tried. No brainer...
One of America�s most powerful labor leaders, teachers union president Randi Weingarten, has quietly moved out of New York City, a decision that saved her from paying more than $30,000 in city income taxes that she would have owed if she had stayed.
Discussion of people fleeing New York City in part because of high income tax rates has mostly focused on high-powered conservative commentators and billionaire hedge-fund managers. Glenn Beck moved to Dallas, and Rush Limbaugh sold his New York apartment and announced he was vacating the city. An article in last week�s New Yorker discussed the case of hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, who went to court to prove he was not in New York City for more than the 183 days that is the threshold for tax purposes.
No one, until now, has mentioned the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Ms. Weingarten, in that group. But sure enough, her biography on the AFT Web site states, �Weingarten now resides on Long Island and in Washington, D.C.�
Such a move would have been well timed for saving on taxes. In 2010 Ms. Weingarten reportedly received a $194,188 payout for unused sick days and vacation days during her time at the United Federation of Teachers, the AFT�s New York City local, where she had been president before being elevated to the national presidency. That brought her total union compensation in 2010 to more than $600,000. Union disclosure forms on file with the Department of Labor show her gross salary for 2011 was $407,323, well above what she had been making when she lived in New York City as the UFT president.
The $600,000 in 2010 would have put Ms. Weingarten in New York City�s top tax bracket, hitting her with a 3.876% marginal rate on top of the top New York State income tax rate of 8.97%. The 2011 pay, because it was below the $500,000 threshold, would have been subject to a 3.648% tax rate on top of the 7.85% state tax. By avoiding a city income tax of more than 3% on about $1 million of income, Ms. Weingarten would, perfectly legally, have saved herself more than $30,000. That�s money that she gets to keep and decide for herself how to use if she lives outside of New York City, but money that, had she stayed in the five boroughs, would have gone to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to spend.
