Mickel$on tax: What the putt?

New tax laws have Phil Mickelson teed off.

The wealthy pro golfer — known as “Lefty” on the golf circuit — threatened to make some “drastic changes” because of federal and state tax hikes that are crimping his style.

“There are going to be some drastic changes for me because I happen to be in that zone that has been targeted both federally and by the state and, you know, it doesn’t work for me right now,” the San Diego native said at the conclusion of a tournament at La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, Calif.

Mickelson, 42, alluded to the possibility that the 22nd -ranked golfer — who has a net worth of $180 million and earned roughly $47 million last year, according to Forbes — may leave California.

AP

Phil Mickelson

“So I’ve got to make some decisions on what I’m going to do,” said the four-time major golf championship winner to reporters Sunday.

“If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate’s 62, 63 percent,” he noted.

Tax changes made to close the gap on a $700 million budget shortfall in California have irked wealthy residents, compelling more to mull leaving the state, said managing shareholder Betty Williams at Williams & Associates.

“Many [high earners] are stuck with a tax liability that they didn’t really help create,” Williams said. “Mickelson has to consider where he’s getting his value for his taxes.”

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Series for Miami’s emerging art collectors begins Thursday

For art enthusiasts interested in bring their interest home, Miami’s Bakehouse Art Complex is hosting a lecture series for emerging collectors. The first panel, slated for Thursday at 6 p.m., features arists and curators who will talk about fine tuning your taste and learning to make informed decisions. The second session, Feb. 7, is oriented to the mechanics of purchasing. The third, on Feb. 21, explores how to manage your collection.

Moderating all three panels will be Denise Gerson, independent curator who served as associate director for the Lowe Museum of Art for 24 years. Cost is $25 per session or $60 for the series. Seating is limited; reservations are recommended.

Information at 305-576-2828; www.bacfl.org.

Jane Wooldridge

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New Miami city clerk takes the dais

New Miami City Clerk Todd Hannon isn’t worried about maintaining order on the commission dais.

After all, he once helped enforce no-fly zones in Iraq.

Serving in the U.S. Navy prepared Hannon for City Hall in more ways than one. He learned to be disciplined, pay attention to detail and take ownership of his work, he said.

Hannon became Miami’s chief administrative officer last week. He replaced longtime clerk Priscilla A. Thompson, who retired in September after a 32-year career in City Hall.

Hannon, 41, isn’t your stereotypical military guy. He wears his long hair in a ponytail, carries a backpack to work, and surfs and snowboards in his spare time.

“It’s that West Coast mentality,” said Hannon, who lived in California before moving to Miami eight years ago. “I like to think you can be easy-going and still get things done.”

He has big plans for the office, including updating Miami’s electronic records systems and putting the historical archives online. He hopes the state will be willing to help out with the cost.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for the public to access our records,” he said. “We just have to do it smartly and make sure we get the best for our money.”

A native of northern Virginia, Hannon started at the naval training camp two weeks after graduating from high school. His reason for joining was simple: He wanted to see the world.

“I had never been out of the country before,” he said. “I was looking to do something adventurous.”

The Navy brought Hannon to Australia, Japan and Singapore. He specialized in “battlespace” management and over-the-horizon warfare. In 1992, he was stationed on the USS Ranger, an aircraft carrier that monitored Iranian air traffic in the Persian Gulf. He later helped protect humanitarian efforts in war-ravaged Somalia.

“It was a great education,” Hannon said. “Each decision I made had to be thought through thoroughly, and then communicated up the chain of command.”

When Hannon’s service ended, he enrolled in community college and then transferred to the University of California at Berkeley. After graduating with a degree in political science, he went worked for a state senator and ran political campaigns.

Hannon moved to South Florida in 2005, and was accepted into the University of Miami School of Law. But when he realized how much it would cost, he decided not to enroll. Instead, he took an entry-level job in the Miami city clerk’s office.

Thompson, the former clerk, said Hannon’s work ethic quickly distinguished him.

“I also noticed that he was very diplomatic,” Thompson said. “He was always able to rally the troops. That’s not something that you would normally find in someone as young as him.”

Hannon worked his way up, eventually becoming assistant city clerk in early 2011. He was responsible for overseeing records, legislation and more than 30 city boards, committees, trusts and agencies.

Last month, the City Commission voted 3-2 to make Hannon the next city clerk.

Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones said she voted for Hannon because she admires his “spirited leadership.”

“He’s a humble guy, but he’s a very focused guy,” she said. “Priscilla taught him really well.”

Hannon is still negotiating his new salary, he said. It will be “nowhere near” Thompson’s salary of $192,270 a year, he noted. He made $69,471 a year plus benefits as assistant city clerk.

Hannon’s duties will include including maintaining the official record, helping the public access legislative documents, working with lobbyists and overseeing city elections. He will also serve as parliamentarian during City Commission meetings — a challenging task when meetings get chaotic.

Commissioner Francis Suarez, who also voted for Hannon, believes he will be a calming presence on the dais.

“He is extremely well-prepared,” Suarez said. “He always seems to be one step ahead of you, anticipating your question.”

Hannon has no concerns about taking the hot seat.

“I’ve been on the dais for years,” he said. “This time, I’ll be the steward of the ship.”

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Mobile revolution in Myanmar is on the cards, but too slow for many

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar is on the cusp of a mobile revolution. Only it’s happening way too slowly for many locals.

Last week the government invited expressions of interest for two mobile phone licenses – a first step towards increasing mobile penetration from its current 5-10 percent to 80 percent in three years. That would lift it off the bottom of the world’s ladder of mobile use and put it on a par with neighbors like Bangladesh.

In the meantime, users are chafing at the pace and price of adding connections.

A year ago the informal technology conference Barcamp Yangon was buzzing with rumours of a SIM card that would cost about $ 6 – or 1 percent of its actual price at the time.

A year on, Barcamp is back but the talk is much less dramatic: whether the state-owned operator might this week release SIM cards costing between around $ 100. That would still be half of what the last tranche sold for, but it still leaves many unhappy.

“The clock is ticking,” says Ravi Chhabra, a local technology entrepreneur. “People are frustrated. There is lots of speculation and this creates anxiety.”

Nobody questions the need for more connections, and foreign operators have salivated at what amounts to one of the last major untapped markets.

President Thein Sein has made it clear that mobile telephony is a cornerstone of his policy, and has also vowed that mobile communications would be cheap – a promise he reiterated to a conference of donors on Saturday.

Still, getting it done is not proving easy.

The notice inviting expressions of interest in two licenses was a welcome sign that things were moving, but IT experts and sources close to the communications ministry said the timing was surprising, given that the revised telecommunications law which would define the nature of any investment had yet to be passed by the parliament.

The government said in an appendix to the notice that a new draft of the law – which had been quietly withdrawn last year after criticism about its contents – had been submitted to parliament and was expected to be passed by June.

“After the law is finished then there should be a clear policy before any expression of interest is sought,” said Zaw Min Oo, secretary general of the Myanmar Computer Federation.

On top of that, the next day Telecommunications Minister Thein Tun, who had overall responsibility for mobile licensing, resigned. No reason has been given, and officials declined to comment.

“BIT OF AN EARTHQUAKE”

Sources close to the ministry say his departure had been rumored for several months, but the timing was unexpected, and raises questions about what might happen next.

“It’s been a bit of an earthquake; now we need to sit back and watch, see which buildings fall down,” said one source close to the ministry who, like others interviewed, declined to be named for fear of jeopardizing business relationships with the ministry and its companies.

Not everyone is concerned. Romain Caillaud, a Yangon-based consultant with Vriens and Partners, says both the notice and the resignation “should accelerate the liberalization and growth of the telecom sector.”

Major foreign telecommunications companies are likely to submit expressions of interest ahead of the deadline of January 25, say experts.

Alessio Polastri, a lawyer who represents several such firms in Myanmar, says whatever delay in the process there has been will benefit the government.

“It’s almost an asset in that initial concerns about political stability have disappeared, so, most likely, not only more telecommunications companies will take part in the tender process but also the winners shall be more confident in committing higher investment,” he said.

More thorny for the government, however, may be assuaging local interests. By inviting expressions of interest for two licenses, the government appeared to be committing itself to offering four licenses – two for foreign companies, and two for local ones: state-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, or MPT, and Yatanarpon Teleport, an internet service provider which is 51 percent owned by MPT.

Some local businesspeople are questioning the wisdom of this, saying that MPT should not effectively own more than one license.

CHEAP SIM CARDS

Dozens of local IT entrepreneurs last November formed the Myanmar Technologies and Investment Corporation to bid for a license, and are currently lobbying parliament to merge the two local licenses, giving them a better chance of either winning one or setting up with a partner.

“So far the ministries have come back with positive responses and encouraged us,” said Thaung Su Nyein, who is also managing director of local media and IT company Information Matrix. “Even if we don’t get this license we’ve been led to understand we’ll get other business licenses.”

But more pressing is growing public frustration at the lack of progress on the ground.

Last year’s talk of cheaper SIM cards was fuelled partly by MPT’s decision to press ahead with expanding its own network, promising to add 30 million GSM connections by 2016 – financed by allowing contractors building the towers to sell a certain number of SIM cards.

Since then, the rumor mill has been alive with chatter about when new tranches of SIM cards might be available, and how much they might cost. A few weeks before the tech meet up, a previously obscure businessman held a press conference at which he promised SIM cards costing only 5,000 kyat (around $ 6).

While the promise went unfulfilled and the businessman disappeared from view, it started a movement of sorts: stickers appeared demanding 5,000 kyat SIM cards and several people were arrested in small demonstrations, according to exile media.

Those hopes have been dashed, but the shortfall of SIM cards ensures interest in a steady stream of sometimes conflicting reports about another imminent sale. One local media report quoted officials as saying more than 1.5 million SIM cards would be sold on Monday for 100,000 kyat each, or about $ 112.

That would still be out of the reach of most people in Myanmar.

“People want to see faster progress,” said a source close to the ministry. “At least half the country want a phone, and they want it soon.”

(Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

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David Arquette Viola Davis Send Well-Wishes to Barbara Walters

ET's Christina McLarty gained access to the Creative Coalition dinner in Washington D.C. on Sunday, where Barbara Walters was on the minds of many of the stars in attendance.

With Barbara Walters' hospitalization following a fall over the weekend, the veteran journalist is expected to miss the Presidential Inauguration tomorrow. Knowing how much she must've wanted to be present, Viola Davis sent words of comfort to Barbara via our ET cameras.

RELATED: Presidential PDA on Election Day

"Ms. Walters, there will be more historic moments. Not to worry," said Viola. "But in the meantime, we are all so inspired by the standard that you set that we're going to try to put on the big girl pumps tomorrow and see how we pull it off."

Barbara took a tumble on a stair on Saturday while visiting the British Ambassador's residence in Washington. Her rep gave this statement to ET: "Out of an abundance of caution, she went to the hospital to have her cut tended to, have a full examination and remains there for observation. Barbara is alert (and telling everyone what to do), which we all take as a very positive sign."

David Arquette also sent well-wishes to the 83-year-old newswoman, but with a comedic twist. Click the video to hear his fake conspiracy theory about what really happened to Barbara.

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‘Shake’r joins hot UWS list

Star restaurateur Danny Meyer has joined the top-flight tenant tasters at the now-shuttered Ollie’s space next door to the Apple store on the Upper West Side, Side Dish has learned.

The 7,500-square-foot space at 1991 Broadway by Lincoln Center is coveted in large part because of its current neighbor.

“Being directly next door to Apple is a dream for any retailer or restaurateur, and we expect a tremendous amount of interest,” said property agent Jeffrey Roseman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail.

Sources say brands including Microsoft, Nike, Anthropologie and Patagonia have expressed interest, along with other restaurant groups such as the Cheesecake Factory and Junior’s.

Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, whose restaurants include Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and the burger phenomenon, Shake Shack.

***

LA-based Michael Della Femina — whose father, ad guru Jerry Della Femina, just sold his home in East Hampton for $25 million — is looking for pop-up restaurant spots in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Hamptons.

His plan is to replicate Slate, the LA café and panini bar pop-up he owns with fellow actor Josh Weinstein, in New York. Slate, at 6541 Santa Monica Blvd., is around the corner from Rao’s new LA outpost.

Della Femina and Weinstein also partnered on “Bloody” Bill Annesley’s 2009 pop-up, Libertine, in West Hollywood.

So far, Della Femina has looked at a 500-square-foot gallery space on Sullivan Street and at a 400-square-foot butcher shop on Court Street in Cobble Hill. He also checked out a gallery space in Sag Harbor.

No leases were signed, however, and Della Femina will be back in a couple of weeks to continue the hunt, a source said.

***

SIGHTING: Joanne Binder bringing the fake diamond necklace featured in the title sequence of the James Bond movie “Diamonds are Forever” to a friend’s birthday dinner at Da Tommaso. Her uncle, Maurice Binder, was the film’s title designer.

jkeil@nypost.com

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Three-generation family businesses share their secrets of success

In 2009, when Larry Zinn took over as sales manager for the Infiniti dealership that his father owned, he had a great idea: retrain the sales staff in a team approach and offer customers complimentary add-on services for the first year.

Some salesmen who were used to selling the same way for decades up and quit. But that didn’t deter Larry from insisting a new sales culture and value proposition for new car buyers was necessary. “I was persistent with everything I’ve believed we needed to do going forward. People were going to embrace change or move on,” says Larry, 28.

The resistance quieted, however, after Larry recruited young salespeople and had them trained in the new advantage program. The new approach helped push sales volume up 72 percent. "We had a lot of success with it,” he says.

Larry Zinn’s experience is not unusual for family-owned businesses that survive into a third generation and employ new tactics to keep from becoming obsolete.

Nationally, family-run businesses account for nearly 35 percent of the largest companies including Ford, Koch Industries, Hilton, Wal-Mart, Loews and Ikea. In South Florida, family-run businesses are particularly prevalent and account for a majority of the largest Hispanic companies, including Goya, Bacardi, El Dorado and Sedano’s Supermarkets.

But while more than 30 percent of all U.S. family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, only about 12 percent are passed onto the third generation, according to Family Firm Institute, a Boston-based association for family enterprise professionals. Those that do survive have a few intriguing commonalities: an ability to stay relevant, think bigger and take a long term view.

“They try to figure out where they want to be in 10 years and take steps to make that target,” says Wayne Rivers, president of The Family Business Institute in Raleigh, N.C.

Most third-generation family businesses, particularly those in South Florida, were started by a scrappy entrepreneur who saw business ownership as a way to provide for the family. Those businesses include grocery chains such as Sedano’s, restaurant operators such as Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine and airport concessionaires such as NewsLink.

Typically, in those businesses, the founder brought his kids with him to work, put them in the kitchen, the stock room, the sales floor, and taught them on-the-spot business lessons. Those kids eventually came to work full time and helped the company evolve beyond a seat-of-the-pants start-up into a more sophisticated business with processes and systems.

Now comes the third generation, who are more likely to have received formal business education before they return to the company. Often, they are able to leverage that training and move the company forward dramatically. But the succession also comes with challenges. They must keep the respect of longtime employees and show the same dogged commitment to seeing their company succeed, even after having already grown up enjoying the fruits of its success.

In successful third-generation businesses, the senior generation often stays on to ensure that commitment, adopting a role as mentor or advisor while creating an environment where younger family members can take on real responsibility, says Rivers, who consults for family businesses. “They get out of the way, let the next generation make their own mistakes, and gracefully exit when it’s appropriate.”

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Ex-Mayor Diaz to talk about new book at alma mater

Congratulations to my friend and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who has will be presenting his new book at 9:45 a.m. in the Roca Theater at his alma mater, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, 500 SW 127th Ave. in West Miami-Dade.

His book is titled Miami Transformed: Rebuilding America, One Neighborhood, One City at a Time.

Born in Cuba, Diaz really is a Miami success story. He came to Miami when he was 6, and went on to become a local attorney and later mayor, serving two terms. He also served as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Diaz is being presented by the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami, the Ramón Guiteras Memorial Library and the school's Social Studies Department.

For those who are unaware, the school was founded in 1854 in Havana. In 1961, Belen and all private schools in Cuba were confiscated by the new political regime. That same year, Belen was re-established in Miami. Today the all-boys' school has an enrollment of 1,500 in grades six through 12 and has more than 6,000 alumni.

The program is free and open to the public.

Music for Overtown

The Overtown Music Project will have its annual fundraiser from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The program will include an 18-piece big band, along with hip hop, funk and soul.

According to Amy Rosenberg, spokeswoman for the fundraiser, the event will celebrate the connection between Overtown and the Fontainebleau, a hotel where Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Etta James once performed.

The program will include several musicians who played in Overtown's many venues during its heyday. The musicians are now in their 60s and 90s and will be showcased at the event.

Rosenberg said the event will fund the six annual events in Overtown, and three programs geared toward bringing music back to the area permanently.

For tickets and more information go to: www.evenbrite.com/event/5147700912 or www.overtownmusicproject.org.

Children’s Chorus

The Miami Children's Chorus will present a program, "Bring on the Boys," a singing workshop for boys with unchanged voices, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in the Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall, 5501 San Amaro Dr. in Coral Gables. Timothy A. Sharp is the music director for the Miami Children's Chorus..

The registration deadline is Thursday and the fee is $20 per person and $17 per person when registering five or more youngsters together.

For more information call 305-662-7494 or go to miamichildrenschorus.org or info@miamichildrenschorus.org.

Play looks at gay marriage law

A staged reading of the play 8 will be performed at 7 p.m., on Jan. 27, in Room E352 at the University of Miami School of Law. The play, written by Dustin Lance Black, chronicles the historic constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8. Black is the Academy Award-wining screenwriter of Milk

The production of 8 will be staged under license from the American Foundation for Equal rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact. It will be directed by Marc Fajer, a member of the law school's faculty who has had more than 30 years of theatrical directing experience.

The performance was arranged by OUTlaw, a student organization at the University of Miami School of Law, that seeks to advance the priorities of the gay, lesbian, bisexzual and transgender community on the campus.

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Timeline: Kim Dotcom’s year, from Megaupload to Mega

AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Here are the milestones in the past year for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. Dotcom plans to launch on January 20 a new online file storage system, known as Mega.

January 20, 2012 – Seventy armed New Zealand police raid Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s mansion outside Auckland, acting on a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Dotcom and his colleagues Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk are served extradition and search warrants, arrested, and taken into custody. As operators of the website, they are charged with online piracy, fraud and money laundering, and their computers and files are seized. Megaupload is closed down. The raid occurs on the same day U.S. lawmakers axe anti-piracy legislation following heavy public opposition.

February 22 – Dotcom is released on bail, but his movements are restricted and he is prohibited from leaving New Zealand. His bail conditions are eventually relaxed to allow him free movement within the country, while the millionaire is given some access to his frozen funds to pay his legal team and living costs.

June 28 – A New Zealand court rules that search warrants used by local police to raid the Dotcom mansion were illegal, and moves by the FBI to copy data from Dotcom’s computers to take offshore were also unlawful. The court’s action is seen by many as weakening the extradition case against Megaupload.

August 16 – U.S. efforts to extradite Dotcom are dealt another blow as a New Zealand court rules that prosecutors must show evidence to support charges of internet piracy and copyright breaches. The judge in the case says withholding evidence from Dotcom would give Washington a significant advantage in the extradition hearing. She also rules that the document used to order his extradition was illegal.

September 27 – New Zealand’s Prime Minister admits that the country’s spy agency illegally carried out surveillance on Dotcom, a resident of the country, despite a law which prohibits monitoring citizens and residents.

October 10 – A U.S. federal judge rules that the U.S. government’s criminal case against Megaupload will proceed, while leaving open the option of dismissing the case at a later date on grounds including the possibility that delays in proceedings have denied Megaupload to its right to due process.

January 20, 2013 – Dotcom is due to launch his new cyberlocker, Mega.co.nz, whose encryption system is designed to offer water-tight privacy protection of user files. The launch comes as Dotcom and his colleagues await their extradition hearing, which has been delayed until August.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu)

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Michelle Obama on Inauguration President Barack Obama

ET's Rocsi Diaz sat down first with First Lady Michelle Obama at the Kids' Inaugural Concert to discuss a variety of topics from her new hairstyle and birthday celebration to Lance Armstrong.

RELATED: Actors Who've Played Presidents

Mrs. Obama debuted her shoulder-length bob with eye-level bangs via Twitter on her birthday, Thursday, January 17, and she told Rocsi that Dr. Jill Biden may have had an influence on her.

"I've been coveting [Dr. Biden's] bangs for four years," joked Mrs. Obama, quipping that they're "the bang sisters." She also revealed that husband President Barack Obama gave her a "beautiful necklace" as a recent birthday gift.

On the topic of Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah in which he admits to doping, Mrs. Obama said, "I didn't even get a chance to see it. It's a sad situation for everyone who's watching ... I think we have to remember all the people that have been helped and who will continue to need the help of [The Livestrong Foundation]. We should focus on making sure that cancer survivors and people dealing with the disease have the kind of support, medical and research, that they need to deal with the situation. We can't lose sight of that accomplishment."

Rocsi will present at tonight's Kids' Inaugural, which marks the latest efforts by the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden's Joining Forces initiative to urge Americans to support our troops, and our Gold Star and Blue Star families.

The First Lady described the event in a video message, explaining that it's about "celebrating who we are as Americans and the people who make our country great -- our men and women in uniform, our military spouses, and our amazing military kids. So it's no surprise that when Jill and I decided to host this event, everyone wanted to join us -- from Katy Perry to Glee, from Nick Cannon to Usher. They know that military kids serve this country right alongside their moms and dads, and we’re really looking forward to celebrating our military families this weekend."

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