"As COVID descended on California economies began to shut down and a debate raged over what businesses were "essential." A rather public dialogue took place between Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, and Alameda County authorities regarding the forced shutdown of the Tesla plant in Fremont. This dialogue was punctuated by a pithy tweet from Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez who describes herself as a Progressive Latina Democrat; Lorena's message: "F*ck Elon Musk!"
That tweet ... and that attitude... would seriously cost CA. Elon Musk rather calmly threatened to leave the state. The arrogant Governor was dismissive, saying "Elon Musk isn't leaving California anytime soon!" Six months later, Elon Musk left California.
Musk has sold (or is in process of selling) all of his personal real estate in the state. He is now a resident of the state of Texas. He has also moved his philanthropic foundation to Texas. One of his companies, Space X, is based in Texas and Tesla is building a new plant outside of Austin, TX.
Consider the unfathomable stupidity of in-your-face progressive/Socialist democrats forcing Elon Musk to give up on California. Musk came to CA as an immigrant and proceeded to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through Solar City and Tesla than all of the ignorant "progressive," "ultra-leftist," politicians in the state .. combined.
Anyone can make a proclamation or talk about climate change.
Musk didn't talk about it. He simply brought products to market that benefited the consumer, the environment, AND his shareholders. He should be the "poster boy" for the green agenda, but instead they turned on him and tore him apart because he refused to buckle to absolutely arbitrary regulations based on flimsy and often ridiculous, medical data.
(By the way, automobile manufacturing is now deemed "essential" in CA.)
There is no way to know for sure what Mr. Musk paid in California state taxes, but it would surprise no one if he paid the most of any individual resident. Now, he will be a much happier resident of Texas and pay a small fraction of the taxes that CA previously squeezed out of him and his employees.
But the damage to CA goes much deeper than the tax revenue of one person. Musk didn't just leave the state, he "turned" on the state, as well he should have. It is now his mission to get other innovators to leave as well, as well he should. According to the Governor of Texas, he is on the phone with Musk at least once a week, strategizing about how to get other CA companies to relocate to Texas.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle have both announced they are moving their HQs to Texas, with 13 other potential moves in the pipeline. This will suck a lot of the financial and social life out of CA."
By Kelly Brothers (MBA, 30-Year-TV-News-Anchor, KCRA Sacramento)
