Following another major tax hike approved by the General Assembly, General Electric’s chief executive officer notified Connecticut employees “I have assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment.” The response from the top Democrat in the Senate, Martin Looney: Who cares.
Email from GE CEO Jeff Immelt to Connecticut employees:
“Last night, the Connecticut legislature passed a tax package which includes significant and retroactive tax increases for businesses in the state. The passing of this law, despite the concerns we raised, has serious implications for GE, other businesses and for the business climate in Connecticut. Please see attached fact sheet on the current environment. As a result of this law passing, I have assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment. This will be a thoughtful process which will take many factors, especially employee impact, into consideration. As the team makes progress, we will keep you updated.
“We only consider this after a lot of thought and in the context of our ability to compete. GE is a major employer in the state. We purchase $14 billion in goods and services from Connecticut companies. Despite this, we have had a tough past decade in Connecticut. Our taxes have been raised five times since 2011, while support for our strategies has been uneven. I believe we should pay our fair share and that all of us should give back to our communities. But, we can compare Connecticut with other states where small and large businesses have a better environment to thrive and compete.
“The new taxes will raise more than $1.9 billion. This will be the second highest tax increase in the state’s history behind only the more than $2 billion tax hike passed in 2011. Throughout the week we conveyed our concerns that these would not improve the competitiveness of small and large businesses in the state. We further reiterated those points in a public statement as the legislature began its budget deliberations.
“If you wish to register your concern, you can find your legislator by clicking www.cbia.com/ga/get_involved/contact_ct_legislators/ and all legislators can be reached through the Capitol switchboard at 860-240-8500. The decision to engage your representatives is, of course, voluntary.
Jeff
MARTIN LOONEY IS AN ASSHOLE.
A big ASSHOLE!
I would use Über rather than big.
Look for a mass exodus from the business community!
Malloy said today this was not his budget, then don’t sign the flucking thing! ASSHOLE!
This is very scary and should not be taken lightly. This is serious. One of the reasons Bridgeport is in the condition it is in is because we lost business to other countries and states that could manufacture things cheaper, and look at the condition it left Bridgeport in for decades–vacant lots, blight, unemployment, crime and poverty. This GE move is similar. This would be devastating for decades and our children would feel the effects.
It’s interesting, a lot of times I read this blog and the irony is it sounds like a fiscal conservative would solve a lot of Bridgeport’s problems. Cut costs, smaller government, bring in business. Just saying.
I have a small business of four. Me, my wife and two kids. GE goes and so will we.
GE is notorious for paying $0 in federal taxes and diverting billions to offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.
If someone making $25,000 a year has to pay taxes, so should GE.
This is a non sequitur.
And not accurate. GE reported $1 billion paid in local, state and federal taxes in 2010.
www .factcheck.org/2012/04/warren-ge-pays-no-taxes/
Businesses have employees who earn income. That income is taxed. If they leave it hurts the local economy. How GE handles its federal corporate taxes is between them and Uncle Sam.
We need some common sense in regard to utilizing development prerogatives in Connecticut.
First, we need to start recruiting more businesses of significant size to increase our tax base and distribute the tax burden more fairly. We can’t just depend on GE and United Technologies and a few other large corporations to prop up our state tax base. We should be actively pursuing other businesses compatible with our needs and our labor pool. We have manufacturing space, manufacturing training programs at all levels, computer science programs, materials and biochemistry training programs at several outstanding Connecticut universities. Let’s recruit some companies such as Siemens, Microsoft, Toshiba, et al., from within and outside the US to come to Connecticut and take advantage of our highly skilled labor and engineering pools to manufacture a variety of technological products in addition to our aerospace, insurance and pharmaceutical firms.
We need to distribute the tax burden so we can offer competitive tax rates. Our rates, at current levels, are already competitive to some foreign firms. If we get our out-of-control energy costs under control through state action, we will be in a very competitive position to recruit many foreign and domestic firms.
The present inept Malloy Administration can’t get out of its own way in regard to proper development policy and accommodations needed to recruit new business to the state.
The Malloy Administration is too heavily influenced by the electric utility lobbies and forces that seek to keep unemployment high and inexpensive labor available for domestic and low-pay tax base maintenance (e.g., the Gold Coast/Fairfield County suburbs), so efforts to reduce energy costs etc. as a means of corporate recruitment in Connecticut are derailed as part of the Malloy Strategy to accommodate his privileged base.
That is why our current tax structure is eroding our corporate commercial tax base. But this policy will soon drive out much of the viable Connecticut workforce in the state, and this policy will backfire on those who seek to gain by it.
Connecticut is screwed as long as we have elitists controlling things affecting development policy in Connecticut at the state and federal level. Instead of supporting the TPP, our Congressional delegation should be working overtime to bring more manufacturing and high value business to our state, not to foreign countries.
We don’t want to lose GE, but we don’t want to be dependent on them and one or two companies either.
We are in the bottom 20% amongst all states for population growth, the worst place to look for a job, and at the bottom of all states for performance since 2008. Income peaked almost 20 years ago. If you are not on the dole or not a member of a Municipal Union (illegal in some states), things are not so rosy in the state of CT. The only place more expensive to live is Hawaii. Bridgeport is in decay because the state is in decay. Jeff, no one’s coming here to start a business or relocate their headquarters. New York and MA are eating our lunch. Half the families in my neighborhood have to go to NY for employment. The transportation infrastructure is neglected. Should I keep going?
It is time to move. My ancestors had to make the same decision I am making now, that is how we ended up in CT.
www .npr.org/sections/money/2014/07/03/327719641/how-every-u-s-state-has-fared-since-the-recession-in-1-graph
www .washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/12/why-americas-middle-class-is-lost/
dailysignal.com/2015/02/16/10-best-worst-states-find-job/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_growth_rate
www .missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/
Thanks JsemJ, saying people pay taxes and companies should pay their fair share too sounds great in theory, and in theory I agree. But in practicality, the reality is we are in a globalized economy, and CT has put itself in a position where it only has a handful of heavy hitter companies. Many of the smaller companies and mom and pop shops rely heavily on GE and similar companies. Not to mention, the myriad of charitable donations given by companies that fund local initiatives, foundations, not-for-profits, etc. I really am not sure what the general assembly is thinking but this is a HUGE issue. People should be on the phone/computers emailing the delegation and leadership. At the end of the day the best stability to families, children and communities is good-paying jobs.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=suN-9FrBi7E
GE is, of course, one of our major corporations. The manufacturer’s recent disclosure pointed out the taxpayers of this country, through the Fed, provided $16 billion in bailout to General Electric during the recent crisis. This is what the head, the CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, said in 2002, December 6:
When I am talking to GE managers, I talk China, China, China, China, China. You need to be there. You need to change the way people talk about it and how they get there. I am a nut on China. Outsourcing from China is going to grow to 5 billion. We are building a tech center in China. Every discussion today has to center on China. The cost basis is extremely attractive. You can take an 18-cubic-foot refrigerator, make it in China, land it in the United States, and land it for less than we can make an 18-cubic-foot refrigerator today ourselves.
Gee. A couple of years ago when GE had some difficult economic times, and they needed $16 billion to bail them out, I did not hear Mr. Immelt going to China, China, China, China, China. I did not hear that. I heard Mr. Immelt going to the taxpayers of the United States for his welfare check.
So I say to Mr. Immelt, and I say to all those CEOs who have been so quick to run to China, maybe it is time to start reinvesting in the United States of America.