<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655999477395,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655999477395,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55997754", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1037656"} }); ","_id":"00000181-9128-d789-a3f7-996e863a0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedBillionaire hedge fund boss Ken Griffin, citing a better corporate environment, is moving his firm Citadel to Florida.
Griffin, the wealthiest resident of Illinois and a top GOP donor, announced the move to Miami in a letter to Citadel staff on Thursday. He said that he has already moved to the Sunshine State and that the hedge fund will begin the process, which is expected to take years, of relocating as well.
“Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin wrote, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York, and our other offices around the world.”
Citadel has about 1,000 employees in the Windy City, many of whom will likely remain in Chicago despite the move.
PEOPLE FLEEING HIGH-TAX STATES TO LOWER-TAX STATES DURING THE PANDEMIC: REPORT
While he didn’t cite crime in the letter to employees, Griffin faulted Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker for violence in the city and donated some $50 million to one of Pritzker’s opponents.
“If people aren’t safe here, they’re not going to live here,” he said in an interview. “I’ve had multiple colleagues mugged at gunpoint. I’ve had a colleague stabbed on the way to work. Countless issues of burglary. I mean, that’s a really difficult backdrop with which to draw talent to your city from.”
Citadel is the third major company to announce plans to move out of Illinois recently. This month, Caterpillar said it was relocating to Texas, and Boeing announced it was moving to Arlington, Virginia.
Since the pandemic, there has been a trend of people moving from traditionally blue states to red states.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan group that generally favors low taxes, used data from the census and commercial data sets from U-Haul and United Van Lines to compile a list of which states had the biggest population inflows and outflows. The group noted that many of the states people are leaving have higher taxes than states where people have been relocating.
New York, which is notorious for its high taxes, was the state with the largest percentage decrease, with a drop of 1.8% from April 2020 to July 2021. Washington, D.C., experienced a whopping 2.8% loss. Other states with big losses were Illinois, California, Massachusetts, and West Virginia.
