Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tesla employees lots of people who pay income tax. Capital gains is taxed on the residence at time of sale, not time of purchase. So if Musk sells when he’s not a resident of CA, he won’t pay CA taxes.
Isn’t any equity he is awarded for the period of work he did as a tax resident of California, taxable in California, regardless of whether those gains are realized today or in 20 years?
Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
261–270 of 691 posts
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#262I know this is charged but it's genuine question due to my ignorance - why are companies having or moving HQs to Texas? It feels that : 1. It's way out of temperate climate that one would live in when given full choice and all things equal (understanding they never are of course - I live in great white North :) 2. Politics are highly conservative and frequently invasive. now clearly half of Americans like it that way…
1) Very true, but unless you're an avid hiker or a marathoner, I'm not sure how big of a role climate plays in deciding a home. 2) Texas politics are invasive if you're a woman in need of an abortion, sure. But then, California politics are invasive for everyone who earns an income. If Texas politics are 'frequently invasive', then California politics must be downright suffocating.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, although I would imagine Tesla's the premiere destination for fresh triple-star college graduates that don't mind taking a pay hit to work for Tesla (and burn out after 3 years.) Or California's housing market is just too fucked. I think this is more plausible than the income tax too high theory.
Every talented meche or swe I know either gets paid multitudes more somewhere else. Or has worked there and didn’t want to work 7 day weeks anymore. It’s all anecdotal but I’ve only heard negative things about working at a Musk co.
I backed away real quick.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think we really need to localize this conversation as nowhere can economically manage a large exodus of people from California's 40,000,000 population. The only thing to remember is that Californians can afford the new area's current housing prices and a decade's worth of price increases.
Influx of Californians raises the local housing prices because they can pay a lot more after selling in California. This has happened and continues to happen in metro Denver and Boise.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? My sense is that you have only lived in Austin and thus don't know how squeezed things are in the bay area. Not trying to be rude but just trying to point out how much more affordable Austin is relative to the bay area.
Not even just the bay area but the whole coast. Look at prices in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, or out east. They all easily top Austin. I think it's a good thing. Austin has a budding tech scene. Hopefully the political shitstorm there blows over so people actually want to live there.
Literally Dell Computers is from Austin.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#266The official reason is because of housing: "To be clear we will be continuing to expand our activities in California," Musk said. "Our intention is to increase output from Fremont and Giga Nevada by 50%. If you go to our Fremont factory it's jammed." But, he added, "It's tough for people to afford houses, and people have to come in from far away....There's a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area." https://ww…
Article on the commute some Tesla workers make, getting up at 2:30am. https://www.protocol.com/silicon-valley-tech-shuttles
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#267I know this is charged but it's genuine question due to my ignorance - why are companies having or moving HQs to Texas? It feels that : 1. It's way out of temperate climate that one would live in when given full choice and all things equal (understanding they never are of course - I live in great white North :) 2. Politics are highly conservative and frequently invasive. now clearly half of Americans like it that way…
Also in terms of workers rights etc - I wouldn't put Tesla in the progressive category either.
HQ in Texas makes a fair bit of sense given Musk lives there and he can split his time more readily between Space X and Tesla. That and building out in Texas is incredibly cheap and the level of talent needed to stock up at this point doesn't need to be as capable as the early company building staff - its more operational at this point.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
Property taxes are _much_ higher in Texas than California, in fact Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the nation (because there's no income tax, and TX still needs to fund itself somehow; TX also has one of the highest sales taxes for this reason, too). You pay the same on property taxes for a $400k house in Texas as a $1M house in California. Not only that, CA has Prop 13: for better or worse, your prope…
If California somehow repealed Prop 13, you would see their property tax rate zoom up to the point where Texas property taxes wouldn't seem that outrageous by comparison.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Property taxes are _much_ higher in Texas than California, in fact Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the nation (because there's no income tax, and TX still needs to fund itself somehow; TX also has one of the highest sales taxes for this reason, too). You pay the same on property taxes for a $400k house in Texas as a $1M house in California. Not only that, CA has Prop 13: for better or worse, your prope…
If California somehow repealed Prop 13, you would see their property tax rate zoom up to the point where Texas property taxes wouldn't seem that outrageous by comparison.
In November 2020, California scaled back on some of the benefits of Prop 13 for families. Prior to Prop 19, properties could pass from parents to children and the property tax basis would not increase. Now, the benefit is limited to the parents' primary residence, the inheriting child or children need to reside in the property for one year as their primary residence, and the amount excluded from reassessment is limited to $1m.
The main proponents of Prop 19 were realtors who expected the change to result in more sales of properties after parents die. I haven't seen data on it, but they were probably right. There will probably be more sales as children who inherit their parents' properties can't afford to keep them after reassessment.
Prop 19 was titled the "The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act" because it allowed seniors and victims of wildfires to sell a home and buy a new one anywhere in the state and carry over their current property tax assessment, regardless of the sale price. However, it totally undermined one of the best ways for families to pass wealth on to their children, the acquisition of properties for investment. Corporations, of course, were unaffected.
Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Property taxes are higher than California, right? I can't find the source handy at the moment, but I've heard that a house in Austin that looks like a couple hundred grand cheaper than an equivalent house in California for the listing isn't actually any cheaper when you factor in the increased taxes and potentially other costs I'm not aware of.
Property taxes are _much_ higher in Texas than California, in fact Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the nation (because there's no income tax, and TX still needs to fund itself somehow; TX also has one of the highest sales taxes for this reason, too). You pay the same on property taxes for a $400k house in Texas as a $1M house in California. Not only that, CA has Prop 13: for better or worse, your prope…
There is very good evidence that property taxes are capitalized into property values. Land taxes in specific are fully capitalized (which is to say, they lower the price of the land, and the landlord can't pass on the tax to tenants), right in line with long-standing theory:
https://web.archive.org/web/20201108135554/https://dors.dk/f...
Paying property tax might sting, but those ruthless assessors and high rates are one of the few things keeping housing affordable in Texas.