The New York Stock Exchange may leave New York State if Albany imposes a transfer tax on stock sales, the chairman of foreign exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange, which published a paper in the Wall Street Journal, said Tuesday. .
NYSE President Stacey Cunningham said she and 25 other New York stock industry officials sent a letter last Wednesday to state lawmakers warning of the unintended consequences of imposing this tax, which would eventually be charge of investors.
“The New York Stock Exchange belongs to New York. However, if Albany’s legislators get their way, it is possible that the center of the global financial industry will have to find a new home, ”he said.
An NYSE representative declined to comment further.
New York State is facing severe budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting some state lawmakers to introduce a bill that would tax certain financial transactions.
The idea of a new transaction tax seems to have little support for the governor’s office.
When the issue was raised at a January press conference, budget director Robert Mujica said many ideas around these taxes “have not materialized,” according to a copy of the statements provided to Reuters by an official of the New York State Budget Division.
Mujica noted a financial tax that had been proposed last year in New Jersey, where many exchanges host their servers, and noted that the exchanges were quickly mobilized to temporarily move their employees and business out of the country. state.
The pandemic has shown that people can do business anywhere, he said. “So if we raise taxes that way, you mobilize people and potentially just move transactions and servers to another part of the country where those taxes don’t exist.”