Goldman Sachs's London Divisions May Relocate To Escape New Taxes And Regulations

Telegraph:

The bank is understood to be considering its options in the wake of the UK's windfall tax on bankers' bonuses, a new 50pc top income tax rate, and increased banking regulations.

The world's most powerful investment bank has asked an internal team to examine various strategies, including whole divisions being uprooted and taken offshore.

Read the whole story: Telegraph

Comments

[SimonD]

08:15 PM on 01/09/2010

good riddance.
and no, i don't care about the tax revenues we lose. maybe the government will focus on nurturing less fickle industries going forward.

[Topsailsman]

05:31 PM on 01/05/2010

Yet another reason that London is better than New York. Fewer thieves.

[nopilikia]

04:47 PM on 01/05/2010

First three quarters of the year 10.5 billion pounds set aside for salaries and bonuses. You make the big bucks, pay the big bucks. Way to go cousins.

[RightWingMarine]

12:39 PM on 01/05/2010

it's always amusing to watch people without an understanding of Economics pontificate about what should be done with respect to business.

So many people here hail the UK for the heavy taxation and scorn GS and want them thrown out of the country (at best). Should GS decide to leave the UK I'm sure the 5000 people that get laid off will appreciate the actions of their govt. I suppose some of them won't get laid off and will be relocated (assuming that the new country will permit them to work in the country or even to travel there, this is decided on an individual basis after all) leaving behind family and friends and even their country.

Many people constantly spout off that we need a more aggressive tax system and point to the top tax rate of the 1950's hoping no one notices or are completly ignorant of the numerous deductions that were available and that no one paid anything close to that top rate and that tax revenue has increased every time the tax rate was decreased, something even Obama has admitted. Well, this is the result. How much in tax revenue is the UK going to collect once GS goes off-shore? After that happens maybe they'll need to raise the rate some more to make up for the lost tax revenue.

[winningticket]

12:55 PM on 01/05/2010

You make it sound like Goldman Sachs is being persecuted.

[RightWingMarine]

02:54 PM on 01/05/2010

not really what I was going for but thanks. I was trying to demonstrate that there are negative consequences when lawmakers decide to go after business to make them pay their fair share or some other tripe.

If we are unhappy about a business paying bonuses to their employees after being bailed out then the answer isn't to demand a new law, the answer is to demand our lawmakers stop giving away our money.

[jasev01]

05:28 PM on 01/04/2010

COL was too high there anyway, plus who wants to deal with living under the rule of a monarch.

[nopilikia]

04:40 PM on 01/05/2010

We now have our own version of a monarch. Its called the corporate elite.

[jasev01]

05:43 PM on 01/05/2010

Yup but at least you don't need to be born into it; you can make your way up... in theory

[Baltotoast]

03:54 PM on 01/04/2010

Ok, Ok, enough of this. Ever heard of cutting off your nose to spite your face?

If GS moved out of New York it would do great damage to the financial health of the city and state. That is not fabrication. This is from the NYC comptroller:

"The turmoil in financial services will cost New York City 175,000 jobs, says the city comptroller. The state is likely to lose 225,000 private-sector jobs over the next two years, says the state comptroller, and $6.5 billion in securities industry-related tax revenue."

Elsewhere he says that every job in financial services creates two jobs elsewhere in the private sector.

So lets lose the childish tirades and figure out how to regulate the industry so it can support economic growth.

[goto1000]

07:07 PM on 01/04/2010

So lets lose the childish tirades and figure out how to regulate the industry so it can support economic growth.

You can't. Paul Volcker said it best. He told the bonus-bailout recipients that there was not a shred of evidence that anything they had done had contributed one iota to economic growth. In fact, the actions of these people is to the detriment of the wider economy. It is in everyone's interests to see them eradicated.

If they wish to go somewhere with a freewheeling, easy tax system, I've got the perfect suggestion though. Svalbard/Spitsbergen, latitude 78-81 degrees north. Administered under a complex arrangement by the Norwegian crown, but very hands off. Weekend activities for the financial geniuses include polar bear wrestling - a high stakes game, especially in the days before winter, when they're especially hungry; killer whale surfing; and long distance, winter ski touring. All adrenalin rushes, often fatally so. Just the thing our favourite bunch of dickheads have earned for all their 'hard work'.

[nixrox04]

03:44 PM on 01/04/2010

Cheers to the Brits! Let these parasites move to Dubai and take your greedy brokers with them. Maybe the oil rich will welcome brother bloodsuckers. Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out

[winningticket]

03:09 PM on 01/04/2010

They can relocate to Mars as far as I'm concerned.

[vippy]

02:42 PM on 01/04/2010

Let us hope theyw ill leave the USA as well. Who needs those pesky bloodsuckers? But they have their friends in high places so no chance at this.

[Baltotoast]

03:38 PM on 01/04/2010

ahh....how about anyone who lives in NYC or New York State? Do you know how much corporate and personal income tax comes from the financial service industry in NY?

[vippy]

03:45 PM on 01/04/2010

Last I remember we bailed them out with how many billions. Can we do it again? The next bubble is sure to come, how about the derivatives out there larger than anything before.

[winningticket]

12:52 PM on 01/05/2010

Correction. The question should be how much taxpayer money goes to the financial services industry? But if you want to believe what you wrote, just remember what PT Barnum said.

[TJCole]

01:55 PM on 01/04/2010

Goldman Goldman Uber Alles....!

[atomic]

01:27 PM on 01/04/2010

It's not about business when you have rigged the game and have power shadow players that can affect the outcomes. It's more like organized crime especially because it involves funneling wealth to you and yours through secret connections and back room deals..

[Prakosh]

01:35 PM on 01/04/2010

That's mostly what it reminds me of "The Godfather" scene in Cuba!!!

[No2bailouts]

01:25 PM on 01/04/2010

hmm good articles: http://iamned123.blogspot.com/

[atomic]

01:20 PM on 01/04/2010

GODD IDEA . Maybe if we did the same thing in the US the Goldman Sachs crooks would leave here as well. That would be nice. Hey, they can move their head quarters to Dubi. I hear it gets to around 120 degrees there and the labor force is made up of real modern day slaves. Goldman Sachs would love that. After all they are in the business of making slaves out of the working class anyway. Perfect match.

[TAIsabel]

01:10 PM on 01/04/2010

Just like the Taliban...terrorists in search of a safe haven. They are nothing more than economic terrorists.

[mhazard]

12:25 PM on 01/04/2010

As long as GS is paying for the Xe troops, I don't care.After what happened in Iraq, Dubai might not want them either.