Elon Musk moves to Texas • Hacker News Board

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#841

Post by samfisher83 » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:22 AM UTC

unnouinceput wrote: post #831

Quote: "With a net worth of $134.7B, Musk recently surpassed Bill Gates as the second-richest person in the world, and he's on track to earn more than $50 billion in stock options. If he remained in California, he’d be facing income taxes on the profits when he exercises them. In Texas, there is no income tax. " Rest is blah blah, this right there is the real reason for such a move. Can't blame the man either, I'll d…

He benefits from government policies like the one for EV credit, and the one where companies have to buy carbon credits. Then when its time to contribute back its time to move.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#842

Post by SllX » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:22 AM UTC

jariel wrote: post #824

lwansbrough wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don’t build luxury housing, affordable housing becomes luxury housing. San Francisco is a perfect example of NIMBY extremism and the damage it does to communities.

Just the opposite, every community has a right to decide their future. If a community says 'we'd rather be homes and don't want to turn everything in to high-rises' then that's entirely their discretion. It's definitely not any individual townships moral or civic responsibility to change their community to accommodate either state/national strategic planning, especially for the benefit of people who do not even live…

Abusing police powers to curtail private property rights isn’t the high ground.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#843

Post by notnap » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:22 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #452

pchristensen wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It distorts many aspects of governance. People don't move because there's a tax hike proportionate to how long you've lived there, so there's less turnover in housing, meaning less supply, meaning higher prices. It puts a hard, long term, effectively permanent cap on tax growth, so cities must plan for everything to continually get leaner. Cities make land use and zoning decisions based on uses that are net contribut…

How do we get rid of Prop 13? Supporting repeal is a political death sentence for anyone in local or state office. Homeowners of course love it (even when it has negative effects on them), and renters tend to be less politically active. What kind of campaign would it take to do this?

renters in Bay Area are on h1b visa and don't have the right to vote. Speaking of modern age colonialism

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#844

Post by rcpt » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #452

pchristensen wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It distorts many aspects of governance. People don't move because there's a tax hike proportionate to how long you've lived there, so there's less turnover in housing, meaning less supply, meaning higher prices. It puts a hard, long term, effectively permanent cap on tax growth, so cities must plan for everything to continually get leaner. Cities make land use and zoning decisions based on uses that are net contribut…

How do we get rid of Prop 13? Supporting repeal is a political death sentence for anyone in local or state office. Homeowners of course love it (even when it has negative effects on them), and renters tend to be less politically active. What kind of campaign would it take to do this?

Nordlinger v Hahn was the best attempt.

I believe it could be revisited on the grounds that Prop 13 primarily benefits white families (makes sense -- they were the only ones buying property 40 years ago).

There is now good data on the racial disparities in our current tax law and with enough money I think another lawsuit has a chance.

https://twitter.com/alfred_twu/status/1327821019931787264?s=...

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#845

Post by andyv » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:24 AM UTC

rconti wrote: post #583

techsupporter wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My birth certificate says "Texas" across the top and people have been "fleeing California" to Texas for as long as I've been alive. There's nothing special about Musk; he just happens to be high-profile about it and managed to extract more from California before decamping to a "cheap" state than several of those who came before him. I disagree with your assessment that Texas has wide acceptance for opposing viewpoint…

This. I grew up in Seattle, and people "fleeing California" has been a meme since at least the early 80s, but no doubt, for many decades before that. Notice he's "fleeing" after he made his billions.

I doubt that Elon is done making money.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#846

Post by rcpt » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

somethoughts wrote: post #688

kelnos wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do we get rid of Prop 13? Supporting repeal is a political death sentence for anyone in local or state office. Homeowners of course love it (even when it has negative effects on them), and renters tend to be less politically active. What kind of campaign would it take to do this?

The way to have a shot would be to have a ballot which simultaneously gets rid of Prop 13 property tax caps (and increases property taxes) while capping income tax. If you are going to increase property taxes then people are going to want to see corresponding decreases in income tax.

That would just barely appease one argument from the "taxation is theft" crowd. I really don't think it gets repeal much closer.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#847

Post by rcpt » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

setpatchaddress wrote: post #326

JKCalhoun wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wondering if Prop 13 is the cause of Cal-flight. Is it driving home prices up? Or is it robbing the state coffers of a tax revenue that has to be made up elsewhere? I don't know.

Yes, it both drives home prices up and robs the state of taxes. It would also devastate many people already invested if it went away overnight; there's not really an easy solution to fixing it.

Cashing out for massive windfall profits isn’t exactly “devastating”

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#848

Post by noemit » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:34 AM UTC

unnouinceput wrote: post #831

Quote: "With a net worth of $134.7B, Musk recently surpassed Bill Gates as the second-richest person in the world, and he's on track to earn more than $50 billion in stock options. If he remained in California, he’d be facing income taxes on the profits when he exercises them. In Texas, there is no income tax. " Rest is blah blah, this right there is the real reason for such a move. Can't blame the man either, I'll d…

There's federal income tax everywhere. He's saving quite a bit in state tax, not avoiding all income tax.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#849

Post by ddoolin » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:39 AM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #772

wolverine876 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many, many billionaires live, have lived, and thrive in CA - probably more than any place in the world. In fact, I'd guess that more billionaires have made their fortunes in CA than any other place. The grievance rhetoric has gone too far (and had awhile ago) when it's used by billionaires. There is also strong reactionary political rhetoric here, the premise that taxes on wealthy people are nearly criminal theft, an…

> nobody would want to live someplace where they democratically invest in their community (i.e., pay taxes) I don't think anybody has a problem with investing in their community, but when there's no return on an investment you cut your losses and move on. Tent cities, rolling blackouts, no healthcare, no public transportation. What are you getting for the taxes? I moved to Hong Kong this year. Public health care, ama…

Not discrediting your point, it's just that I'm not sure HK is a great point of comparison. How many people live in a room the size of a narrow walk-in closet? They have a massive, massive real estate problem in Hong Kong -- there is none left where people want to live.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#850

Post by thesausageking » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 1:40 AM UTC

unnouinceput wrote: post #831

Quote: "With a net worth of $134.7B, Musk recently surpassed Bill Gates as the second-richest person in the world, and he's on track to earn more than $50 billion in stock options. If he remained in California, he’d be facing income taxes on the profits when he exercises them. In Texas, there is no income tax. " Rest is blah blah, this right there is the real reason for such a move. Can't blame the man either, I'll d…

I wouldn't.

Being worth $120B Vs $150B isn't a material difference. At that level, I would say "California was good to me, I leveraged the ecosystem there and the state's generous tax subsidies for my product. I'm ok paying them what I owe."