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Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

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161–170 of 325 posts

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing and taxes in CA are close to oppressive. The housing situation will not change unless CA voters agree to a change in property taxes and they won't. I would also bet that the move will come at the expense of Texas tax payers and to the benefit of Schwabb.

Aren’t taxes highly regressive in Texas with sky high property taxes which exempt rich people ?

I would say overall California’s high income and sales taxes and low property taxes are far, far more regressive, see this at the extreme:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-proper...

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax avoidance "scam". Moving to Texas to reduce taxes, especially SF taxes which are basically useless to the payer [1], [2] is a "scam"? What's the legal framework preventing moves out of SF? Is it indentured slavery to the city council if you ever open an office in SF? [1]: https://www.newsweek.com/san-francisco-district-attorney-pub... [2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2019/04/15/map...

The problem is perception. If a company seems to only move their headquarters in name only (IOW most of the staff still stays in SF), then that seems sketchy. If they make a clean separation and shutdown their SF presence, that doesn't appear as dodgy. And these companies are not just moving to Texas. I live in Oakland, CA and many of these companies are relocating here. I don't care if they leave SF, but if they're…

No one cares. Have you ever made a decision as a customer based on the company’s tax resident status?

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did I say high taxes on on other forms of wealth wouldn't be beneficial? I totally support taxes on wealth to build social programs.

Does that include taxing employee equity based on how it is valued based on each round of funding? Would you also be okay with taxing someone based on how much they had in savings and mutual funds?

> Does that include taxing employee equity based on how it is valued based on each round of funding?

This already happens, except as a tax on income rather than wealth. Exercising options in a private company that has increased in value will result in a tax bill. And you can't sell shares to pay that bill (usually) because the company is private.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing and taxes in CA are close to oppressive. The housing situation will not change unless CA voters agree to a change in property taxes and they won't. I would also bet that the move will come at the expense of Texas tax payers and to the benefit of Schwabb.

Aren’t taxes highly regressive in Texas with sky high property taxes which exempt rich people ?

Here is a recent comparison:

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/11/taxes-are-sur...

Short answer: yes, Texas is regressive, with tax rates being lower in California for the bottom 60%.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#165
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, Texans in the cities may be redneck compared to the rest of the country, but holy fucking shit are they friendly as hell. If you suck in social situations, you will find plenty of extroverts that will gladly make you feel included in a group of strangers.

It really is best to come experience it in person. Yes, there's always stupid people doing stupid things anywhere and it's certainly a conservative state, but people are generally much more tolerant and intelligent than the stereotypes. The stereotypes are hilarious. I'm a computer scientist and spent 9 months at IBM's TJ Watson facility up in New York outside the city. Every person I contacted to rent a room from ma…

But boots are great! ;-)

As someone who lives in Fort Worth, I feel your pain, some folks do honestly seem to think that Texas is basically one big western still.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#166
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You live in the Bay Area now? I've never had any problems in NOLA short of a close call to a home invasion at a acquaintance's five years ago (who was involved in things he shouldn't have been)

Been in the Bay since 2000. I grew up in NOLA through the worst years. Can't unsee what I've seen there. NOLA is bad because crime is everywhere. There are no good areas and bad areas -- it's everywhere. Even people in old Metairie need to deal with home invasions. Uptown? Oooooo-lawd! Who was the rich uptown couple that had a home invasion where they tied up the husband and repeatedly raped the wife over several day…

Yes, it was Uptown. (I don’t live Uptown) I don’t recall the details of the incident you state. Things have certainly changed since 2000.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#167
post #18

This is part of Schwab's merger with TD Ameritrade. Relevant bits from Schwab's FAQ [1]: Q: Where will the combined company be headquartered? A: As part of the integration process, the corporate headquarters of the combined companies will eventually relocate to Schwab’s new campus in Westlake, Texas. Both companies have a sizable presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This will allow the firm to take advantage of th…

TD Ameritrade is headquartered in Omaha. The HQ location choice is not driven by existing Ameritrafe footprint, or by the merger itself. The FAQ is simply addressing what will be, not starting that there was a cause and effect because of the proposed merger. Also, Schwab was already reducing SF headcount for years. Also, afaik the merger is still in the prices of regulatory review. All this being said, the merger lik…

There is nothing wrong with moving to a better tax jurisdiction because you want lower taxes. It is perfectly legal, happens all the time, and is not something subject to a 'government review', because firms are expected to optimize their behavior in order to avoid taxes as much as possible, and even legally required to do so if they are to meet their obligations to maximize shareholder value. The whole idea that people change their behavior to avoid taxes is the basis of sin taxes - this is how things are supposed to work.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#168
post #153
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, Texans in the cities may be redneck compared to the rest of the country, but holy fucking shit are they friendly as hell. If you suck in social situations, you will find plenty of extroverts that will gladly make you feel included in a group of strangers.

People here trend conservative. This cuts both ways, it means that they don't want to make a scene when they see something that offends their norms, but it also means that you have to try a little harder to open minds. The other ruling ethos here seems to be 'good fences, make good neighbors'.

Might be the types of people I met in Texas, but I generally feel people are receptive to counter view points if you dont look down on them. I never had issues with debating people in Texas.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that include taxing employee equity based on how it is valued based on each round of funding? Would you also be okay with taxing someone based on how much they had in savings and mutual funds?

> Does that include taxing employee equity based on how it is valued based on each round of funding? This already happens, except as a tax on income rather than wealth. Exercising options in a private company that has increased in value will result in a tax bill. And you can't sell shares to pay that bill (usually) because the company is private.

That’s exactly my point. Property tax is a tax on wealth. You are not taxed on options until you exercise them. You also can’t sell part of your house to pay taxes on it. You also aren’t taxed on the increase in your stock portfolio until you sell it.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#170
post #18

This is part of Schwab's merger with TD Ameritrade. Relevant bits from Schwab's FAQ [1]: Q: Where will the combined company be headquartered? A: As part of the integration process, the corporate headquarters of the combined companies will eventually relocate to Schwab’s new campus in Westlake, Texas. Both companies have a sizable presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This will allow the firm to take advantage of th…

TD Ameritrade is headquartered in Omaha. The HQ location choice is not driven by existing Ameritrafe footprint, or by the merger itself. The FAQ is simply addressing what will be, not starting that there was a cause and effect because of the proposed merger. Also, Schwab was already reducing SF headcount for years. Also, afaik the merger is still in the prices of regulatory review. All this being said, the merger lik…

Ameritrade has always been based in Omaha, but the T in TD stands for Toronto. So headquarters locations is a pretty malleable designation.
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