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Monday, October 3, 2011

Chicago exchange headed for Texas?

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the world’s largest futures exchange operator, may be headed for Florida or Texas in reaction to the state of Illinois raising the board’s state taxes by 25% in January taking with it a hunk of 120,000 jobs in the trading business in Chicago - Don Surber/Daily Mail

Is this an attempt to get the state to back off on a tax hike? Undoubtedly. But once in a while, leaders in an industry that employs 120,000 people in well-paying jobs, must remind the state that they are not a piƱata for politicians.

CBOE chairman Bill Brodsky told the Chicago Tribune the exchange does not want to leave, but the state’s tax structure as it relates to the exchange “is virtually punitive.” - AP/Chicago Tribune