Are Billionaires Deciding to Leave Connecticut?

GREENWICH, CT - One of Connecticut's billionaires has decided to leave the state, a move that follows a similar decision by another of the state's wealthiest people.

Why are they leaving? Taxes, according to one state senator.

Thomas Peterffy now lists Palm Beach, FL, as his home, but he owned a backcountry Greenwich estate at Conyers Farms. Peterffy is worth $11.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine, good for #88 on the publication's list of "Billionaires." Whether he has sold the Greenwich estate, which was listed for $65 million, is unclear.

Peterffy's move to Florida follows a similar one from C. Dean Metropoulous, another former Greenwich resident who now makes his residence in Palm Beach. Metropoulous is worth $2.4 billion, or #722 on the billionaire list, according to Forbes.

• See related story: The Billionaires Club in Greenwich

By changing their residences to Florida, where there is no income tax, they no longer have to pay income taxes to Connecticut, which is a noticeable blow to the state's coffers.

"There is no question that this problem is accelerating at a frightening rate,'' state Sen. L. Scott Frantz (R-Greenwich) told the Hartford Courant. "I will not mention names, but I can tell you that in just the last six to seven months, the cumulative number of $21.5 billion of net worth has moved to Florida.''

Click here to read the full story on the Hartford Courant website.

Patch Editor Barbara Heins contributed to this report.