New York is broke, and has been for years.
Traders aren't moving anywhere, stop kidding yourself. You guys have been talking sh*t about how you will leave the nation for years, and no action. It's already preferable to trade from abroad, whoever truly can do it, would have moved a while ago.
The purpose of this tax is to stop your activities. The appeasement to Obama nation is a secondary goal, the real goal is to impoverish the nation even more and make current small traders dependent on the state. Big Brother does not like independent individuals.
Modern financial markets are a leeching mechanism, which in the last decade, has become available to almost anyone. Looks like the establishment wants to close it off to most again, make it exclusive how it used to be. That's all.
Noone needs the supposed added liquidity except the same guys who "create" it. Most of these markets are just paper anyway, paper with an illussion of value. The casino is going VIP status, and we aren't included.
If you did not see this coming years ago, you only have yourself to blame for not preparing. I've called this trend 3 years ago to fellow traders, it was obvious. Now the writing is in your face, are you going to adapt or are you incapable of doing anything else to make a living & prosper?