Tax-pats
Jeff Bezos recently saved himself nearly $1.1 billion in taxes by leaving Washington State for Florida. His move illustrated some of the risks of imposing a wealth tax—especially when a state depends so heavily on a major taxpayer like Bezos.
But it’s not just ultra-high-net-worth individuals like the founder of Amazon who are opting to flee high-tax states. Many residents of New York, New Jersey and California have opted to leave for greener tax pastures, too, especially with interest rates and housing costs where they are.
Jo Anna M. Fellon, the National Leader of Marcum’s Private Client Services, and her team member, Loredana Scarlat, joined forces to write a fascinating deep dive into the states that are seeing out-migrations that you can read here: “The Migration of High-Net-Worth Individuals to Low-Income Tax Jurisdictions.”
Of course, with the 2024 presidential election on the horizon, we’ll likely be seeing a lot of new ideas on tax reform in the headlines in the coming months. But in the meantime, many residents of New York City and other major metro areas can’t imagine living more than 100 miles from their natural habitat. The same holds true for other big metros, like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. High taxes are simply a fact of life.
If you’re among them, proactive tax planning—including the year-end tax planning that there’s still time to do—can go a long way toward keeping your tax bill in check. The 2023 Marcum Year-End Tax Guide is chock full of information on valuable tax planning avenues you may not have considered. This year, 30 insight-filled articles and detailed charts will give you the lay of the land and can be a great jumping-off point for a conversation with your tax professional. Whether you’re looking to maximize your estate and gift tax exemptions, seeking answers on tax considerations for modern families, or exploring NFTs, there are many opportunities to optimize your tax planning and save.
The guide is also full of ideas on corporate tax planning. If you lead a company, don’t miss the section on the millions of dollars in state incentives many businesses overlook. Pursuing these incentives can be complicated, but lack of time doesn’t have to stop you. We prepare applications for our clients every day and can quickly spring into action.
Thinking about paying taxes can be stressful, even for billionaires like Jeff Bezos. But, like many things in life, the process is much better if you plan ahead. Consider the Year-End Tax Guide a powerful tool in your arsenal.
On another note, Marcum’s Day of Service was a big success, with many of our over 4,000 partners and associates donating their time to a host of worthy nonprofits during a paid day off from work. I spent the day working at Feeding South Florida, where team Marcum processed over 13,000 lbs of food for those less fortunate than us. This year, the beneficiaries were 100 nonprofits across the country. Meanwhile, in the 2023 Marcum Workplace Challenge, an annual 3.5-mile run/walk produced in collaboration with the Greater Long Island Running Club, our associates raised $85,000 for charities, including the Long Island Children’s Museum, the Children’s Medical Fund of New York, Long Island Cares—The Harry Chapin Food Bank, and the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. To all of you who devoted your time, thank you for your community spirit and commitment to giving back.
