For months, Twitter threatened to leave the Californian city of San Francisco unless it was given a tax break. Twitter stated that if they were not given the required tax break, the service would be moving to the suburbs. The long-running feud ended on Friday, April 22nd, as the New York Times reports. Twitter announced in a blog post they would be remaining in the city, though they will still be moving premises. Now, the company is headed in Market Square, in the Central Market district. The relocation isn't happening any time soon, though. According to the blog post the company will be moving in mid-2012.
The decision was already expected at this point in time, with the company having said it would consider the action should they receive the tax break they demanded. In the blog post written by the company, they thank the Board of Supervisors and also the city mayor, Ed Lee. Locally in the city, the agreement is known as the 'Twitter tax break', as such occurrences are relatively rare within the city; not least due to the fact that San Francisco is the only Californian city to have the 'payroll tax' enforced. Any business earning over $250,000 on its payroll is required to pay the equivalent of 1.5% of total employee compensation per year.
Zynga, the games company renowned for titles such as FarmVille, has also set its sights on a tax break agreement. Much like Twitter, Zynga have threatened to leave the city to operate in another area. The Market Square area of San Francisco can be seen using this website.
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