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Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

kxan.com

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Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#81
post #34

California's tax regime is really backward. I suspect Tesla's departure is just the tip of the iceberg and that the repeal of the SALT deduction in 2017 really hastened this trend. High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. They are partially picking up the slack from Prop 13, which artificially distorts the housing market by allowing longtime homeowners to pay property taxes based on decades-old assessed value…

>High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. Musk has not paid any tax because he hasn't cashed out any of his stock options yet. Some of his options will expire next year so he will pay tax then, but I am sure California will get the lion share of the tax revenue (as Musk lived in California up to 2021.)

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.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Symbolic move with some logistic practicality with Boca Chica and his 400 sq ft tiny house [1] being home base at Starbase. All signs point to Tesla continuing manufacturing at Fremont and they just opened a Megapack manufacturing facility in Lathrop, CA (hiring 1k-2k workers) [2]. The irony that "pro business, less regulation" Texas doesn't allow direct to consumer sales of Teslas. [1] https://www.architecturaldiges…

A 400 sq ft tiny house in Texas, mega mansion in Hillsborough (Bay Area). https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-takes-last-remaini...

Yeah, the 400sqft thing is his on-worksite cabin, not his home.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#83
post #34

California's tax regime is really backward. I suspect Tesla's departure is just the tip of the iceberg and that the repeal of the SALT deduction in 2017 really hastened this trend. High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. They are partially picking up the slack from Prop 13, which artificially distorts the housing market by allowing longtime homeowners to pay property taxes based on decades-old assessed value…

Even a single filer with an AGI of ten million dollars has an effective California tax rate of 13%

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#84

What I'm really curious about is what happens to Austin (and to a lesser extent, Atlanta, Raleigh, Denver, SLC etc). Does Austin become the next Bay Area/next Seattle? Crazy high housing prices, and high homelessness/crime? If so, how long does that take, and what happens to native Austinites? If not, what prevents history from repeating itself?

This being Texas, I suppose Austin has fewer restrictions on new development, so housing prices may be less crazy. To say nothing of taxes, which leave more of your wages to pay the rent.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#85
post #27

Good. This will both alleviate pressure on the Bay Area as well as accelerating the political shift to the left in Texas. It's a win all around. I actually think that living in the Bay Area as a tech employee is increasingly unjustifiable from an ethical point-of-view. It was once the case where that was necessary for many career paths but that's increasingly not the case and the pandemic has hastened that shift. Why…

The real moral failing (not in a serious light) of living there is that you’re funding the Bay Area landlords.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#86

Warning: This post is written from a libertarian/center-right viewpoint. While this move is great, I'm skeptical of the idea that moving to Austin is a political panacea for moderate/center-right/libertarian governance. - The same percentage of people who voted for hard leftist candidates in SF also voted for hard leftist candidates in Austin. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

> There are homeless issues in Austin, just as there are in SF (though not as bad as SF, it's getting worse every year). - Homelessness in Texas has decreased by 55% since 2010. - Homelessness in California has increased by 35% since 2010. So, there is massive a 90% gap. California is obviously doing something wrong there. Source: United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

They're talking about Austin in particular, not the entire state. I found this to be an interesting read:

https://www.slowboring.com/p/homelessness-is-about-housing-n...

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#87
post #50
post #34

California's tax regime is really backward. I suspect Tesla's departure is just the tip of the iceberg and that the repeal of the SALT deduction in 2017 really hastened this trend. High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. They are partially picking up the slack from Prop 13, which artificially distorts the housing market by allowing longtime homeowners to pay property taxes based on decades-old assessed value…

> middling infrastructure Compared to what?

The Netherlands

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#88
post #50
post #34

California's tax regime is really backward. I suspect Tesla's departure is just the tip of the iceberg and that the repeal of the SALT deduction in 2017 really hastened this trend. High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. They are partially picking up the slack from Prop 13, which artificially distorts the housing market by allowing longtime homeowners to pay property taxes based on decades-old assessed value…

> middling infrastructure Compared to what?

Compared to states with comparable infrastructure but less tax.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#89
post #34

California's tax regime is really backward. I suspect Tesla's departure is just the tip of the iceberg and that the repeal of the SALT deduction in 2017 really hastened this trend. High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. They are partially picking up the slack from Prop 13, which artificially distorts the housing market by allowing longtime homeowners to pay property taxes based on decades-old assessed value…

The public schools aren’t pitiful at all. California has great schools.

There are some really great public schools if you can afford to live near them, but that's certainly not true on net. Otherwise California wouldn't consistently rank among the bottom half of US states for public schooling.

Re: Tesla’s headquarters will move to Austin

#90
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>High earners pay an effective tax rate of > 50%. Musk has not paid any tax because he hasn't cashed out any of his stock options yet. Some of his options will expire next year so he will pay tax then, but I am sure California will get the lion share of the tax revenue (as Musk lived in California up to 2021.)

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.

CA already came up with a convoluted way to tax even that: https://www.upstartwealth.com/blog/will-you-owe-ca-tax-after...

And yes indeed, the taxable event is vesting, it indeed happens outside of ca, and yes CA still intends to tax you! They will even come after you in another state for it, after you permanently move out.

!!!

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