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Elon Musk moves to Texas

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Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#191
post #136
post #6

California is actively looking for ways to extract more money from Elon. It likely posed an appreciable risk to his business ventures that CA at some point will try to tax unrecognized capital gains, which would require him to liquidate shares to pay the tax. Basically akin to a hostile government takeover. If CA were to aggressively pursue such a policy, they would likely go after anyone they perceived as fleeing ju…

> CA at some point will try to tax unrecognized capital gains Where is the evidence for this? Effectively, Elon has avoided future California capital gains taxes by moving. Those are the facts of his move. Personally, I would rather pay a few points extra on capital gains and income taxes to avoid Texas. Just look at what the Texas AG is doing right now: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/12/08/texas-ag...

Aside: California is notorious for going after income that was "earned" in CA even if you no longer reside in the state. They'll still be collecting $$ from him for years to come.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply moving his official address from CA to TX does not mean he won't have to pay CA income taxes. CA still taxes income from work in CA even if you don't live there, and for part-time residents, CA still taxes all income even if the work happened in Texas. Musk surely has some good accountants to figure all this out, but it's not as clear cut as your first sentence makes it sound.

[Edit] Adding link to reciprocal agreements and filing in multiple states in thread below. His businesses in California would have to move to Texas to realize the benefits.

No, state personal income taxes are based on personal income you earn in the state. If you work in multiple states, you file in multiple states.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And before you bash Texas, its not perfect. But its pretty diverse, and it seems that folks with opposing viewpoints can still coexist here. I like that... Interesting point. It reminded me that in his past he has also left South Africa, and yet South Africa could also be described pretty accurately as "its not perfect. But its pretty diverse, and it seems that folks with opposing viewpoints can still coexist here.…

I've met quite a few people who moved out of South Africa to the US and UK, and the reason I was always given was something to do with the common advice being to not stop your car at night or at remote intersections lest you get carjacked or worse.

Yeah that's good advice if you're in a dangerous part of town, but it does on occasion also happen in what are considered the safer suburbs.

Crime is South Africa's biggest pusher-outer-of-citizens.

But those that have been to Cape Town and its surrounds understand why so many still choose to live there.

It's a tough compromise!

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#195
post #183
post #158

Pretty interesting to see this move makes people so salty. There does seem to be a trend of people fleeing California, I dont know enough about the situation out there to comment on whether or not its valid. I suspect something must be going on for several high profile folks moving out. And before you bash Texas, its not perfect. But its pretty diverse, and it seems that folks with opposing viewpoints can still coexi…

At last count I've had 14 friends move out of California in the last 3 years. All of them middle class. The biggest reasons given are cost of living and quality of life and education for their kids.

We will be moving out of CA in the coming months. We are lifelong residents. We are leaving due to cost of living and especially quality of life for our children.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#196

What percentage of Tesla employees will prefer living in Texas over California?

Texas has a lot of people living there, with lots of different skill sets.

I am sure that there are many people, already living in Texas, who would want to work for Tesla.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't those federal subsidies though?

California subsidized every Tesla sold. I'm not complaining about it but it should be on record that California helped to give Tesla a boost. It was definitely the right move. I can't think of another state in this country where Tesla would have thrived nearly as well as California. Do you think Tesla would have done well in Texas back in 2003? All those oil guzzlers would have laughed Elon Musk out of the state.

Maybe it is dumb to subsidize entrepreneurs without guarantee they will be paying taxes after.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#198
Elon acknowledges market externalities in that interview to justify government intrusion in the free market to price in the cost of carbon and pollution.

But he doesn’t seem to realize there are other externalities to price in: worker health, education, etc

One of the reasons CA developed as a hot bed of activity was the college system here which provided a ready supply of educated skilled workforce. That’s been supplemented in recent years with people moving here but the genesis started with the great colleges.

Once you admit there are negative externalities that the government has to force companies to “price in” to meet human goals (eg slowing climate change) you can’t just turn around and be a hyper libertarian on every other issue.

Musk is smart enough to extend his reasoning from the environment to other factors.

Indeed environmental regulations are slowing down Gigaberlin, if he were to whine about government required environmental impact reports, he’d be a hypocrite for example.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#199
post #6

California is actively looking for ways to extract more money from Elon. It likely posed an appreciable risk to his business ventures that CA at some point will try to tax unrecognized capital gains, which would require him to liquidate shares to pay the tax. Basically akin to a hostile government takeover. If CA were to aggressively pursue such a policy, they would likely go after anyone they perceived as fleeing ju…

Or, framed differently, California is looking for deep pockets to bail out their failing budget rather than adjust their policy to match what they can afford. The same has been happening in New Jersey with its insane taxes that don't really go to pay for services anymore and have diverted from transportation & infrastructure projects for decades now to bail out their severely underfunded pension funds...where the pen…

>Or, framed differently, California is looking for deep pockets to bail out their failing budget rather than adjust their policy to match what they can afford.

You mean the budget that included tax abatement and subsidies for his factories and the people who buy his cars?

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California still has every viewpoint that is imaginable though there does seem to be less space for far right. What's making everyone salty about Elon leaving is there was considerable amount of people who helped him build up in the state (i.e. state benefits, staff who worked incredibly hard for many years, consumers who bought his cars [drive in the bay area]) and he's peacing out, with a slap in the face to everyo…

Is this a successful way to dodge taxes? If so, that loophole should be fixed. I left California 4 years ago and yet somehow still pay taxes to the state. If you're saying that anyone who was professionally successful in California has no right to ever leave the state, that seems like a tough sell.

Why do you still pay taxes in California? Do you have a residence there?
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