SECURITIES: The Squeeze

To debt-ridden New York City, the big Wall Street investment firms have always looked good for another tax touch. Since 1948, Wall Street firms have been paying 2/5 of 1% on their gross income in taxes. On July 1, the bite was raised to 4/5 of 1%.

Last week it looked as if the city has finally bitten too hard. Rather than pay the extra taxes, Hugh W. Long & Co. Inc. and the Investors Management Co. Inc., which run four investment funds, moved their offices and $230 million in combined assets from their Wall Street skyscrapers to two private houses in Elizabeth, N.J. Thus they will save a total of $188,000 a year in New York city and state taxes. Explained one company official: "We were at a competitive disadvantage . . . there was nothing to do but get out."