291–300 of 691 posts
I'm glad with all these tech companies moving to Texas, it is very likely to go Blue next election!
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Bay area public schools are horrible. I live 15 mins away from Apple HQ and all you need to know about our assigned elementary school is that it has metal detectors on the entrance because of the gang activity.
That has nothing to do with the schooling and everything to do with the homelife these impovershed students experience after the bell rings. If you are a good role model to your children they will do fine in public school and not join gangs or drop out like those whose only role model is their cousin who got out of prison and is trying to recruit them into a gang.
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Do you have any idea what housing costs in the bay area though? We can compare between the zipcodes of Gigafactory Texas and Fremont. According to Redfin the median sale price for 78725 (Austin) is $362k, compared to $1.225 million for 94538 (Fremont). That's more than 3x the price. Compared to California it's definitely affordable. Austin: https://www.redfin.com/zipcode/78725/housing-market Fremont: https://www.redf…
I mean, to be fair, 78725 is effectively the middle of nowhere in Austin. It makes sense if Musk's goal was to choose a fairly undeveloped exurb, but the gigafactory is as close to Manor and Webberville as it is to central Austin. I know Fremont is suburban, but it's a well incorporated suburb to both SF, Oakland and San Jose. 78725 is on the opposite side of Austin from most of the fancy neighborhoods.
The big difference is that in Austin you have the option to commute a bit for much cheaper housing. But in the bay area you could be commuting over an hour each way and the houses will still be over $1 million.
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The exodus has been soundly proven to be a myth. [1] But assuming it isn't, there aren't many better places to go. Texas is a joke. Traffic is worse than LA in the major cities and it is run by Christian zealots. Yeah maybe you pay fewer taxes but the other quality-of-life tradeoffs aren't worth it. [1] https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/California-exodus-is-ju...
It's such a terrible state. Infested with ultrawide roads and zero walkability. Women don't have bodily autonomy - imagine trying to raise a daughter in such an environment. I'd hope that alone would deter engineers with families from the state. Not to mention the a worthless human being of a governor. Backwards politics and ideals. It's a joke of a state, everything wrong with America hyper-concentrated on steroids.…
Go outside sometime, you may be surprised.
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> You're arguing that people trying to make a better life for themselves are ruining the lives of others? 100%. > I think it's extremely clear that Californian's own tax policies California's tax policies have been that way since at least the 70s. I'm thinking Prop 13 and rent control, which were essentially massive giveaways to incumbents at the expense of everyone else. Your presence is support for those policies,…
This is irrational. Though i am not a 'tech worker' my presence is actively trying to undo the harmful policies by being another vote to overturn the paradigm. Literally leaving does nothing but slightly delay the injustices that these policies perpetuate. Effectively brain-drain, but for the voting populace. The displacement is going to happen with our without tech workers, because of the land use policies. Maybe no…
But they'll also vote to protect their investments, being the significant amounts they have tied up in Bay Area housing. And if the campus workers, nurses and teachers have to drive 4 hours a day to get to work, so be it.
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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.
> I mean are you seriously comparing affordability of Austin to the bay area? How is the sprawl in Austin compared to the Bay Area? A lot of times land/housing is cheap/er, but you 'pay' for that will long/er commutes in bad traffic. And often with few/no options for public transit.
I just looked on Redfin - I could buy a 3300 square foot house in Austin for under $900k with a huge pool and that was a 5 second search.
No offense all you Austin folk, but you literally have no clue.
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I mean, to be fair, 78725 is effectively the middle of nowhere in Austin. It makes sense if Musk's goal was to choose a fairly undeveloped exurb, but the gigafactory is as close to Manor and Webberville as it is to central Austin. I know Fremont is suburban, but it's a well incorporated suburb to both SF, Oakland and San Jose. 78725 is on the opposite side of Austin from most of the fancy neighborhoods.
You're joking, right? It's 20 minutes away from downtown.
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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?
Equity is taxed on sale. He will never sell it. He will give it to a bank and take a loan against it. When he dies bank can sell it and pay itself back.
Also, the methodology you’ve described for avoiding taxes is used to benefit from offshore holdings, not avoid paying taxes on locally held assets.
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Has Dell done anything innovative since the 90s? It repackaged computer hardware in a cheap package filled to the brim with bloatware.
They're not the only company in the region: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Hills
Not trying to belittle Austin - I know they have a tech scene - and I know every city is trying to capitalize on marketing their city as the next silicon valley (which is such a ridiculous thing to do for an incredibly long list of reasons).
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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…
Good luck finding a million dollar house in the Bay Area. And TX has a sales tax of 6.25%, while SF is 9.25%. And no state income tax in TX. It’s not even close.
Cities have their own sales tax. And so can school districts (and they can have their own property taxes, too).
And sure, you're right, there's not much housing under $1M in the Bay Area. That doesn't change the fact that a $1M home in TX still pays about the same in property taxes as a $2M home in SF. Or the fact that in SF your property taxes are essentially frozen at purchase price, and in TX they will increase every year.