The second wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, has moved from California to Texas. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he cited California taking “innovators for granted” as one of the main move factors. Tesla still has its headquarters in California, but a new facility is being built in Austin, Texas.
“Fascist” lockdowns
Musk had threatened to move the Tesla headquarters out of California back in May when he could not open one of his facilities there. In the same interview, Musk told the Wall Street Journal that living in California “wasn’t the best use of my time.” And, California is even now under a new lockdown order that went into effect over the weekend. Residents are to stay at home for at least three weeks. Back in May, during the original lockdowns, Elon Musk called the mandates “fascist,” and he said California was “forcefully imprisoning people in their homes.”
More on their way out than in
After his comments, Democrat San Diego California State Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez eloquently defended California’s mandates with the tweet reading, “F*ck Elon Musk.” That attitude, along with California policy, is probably why the state has been losing 100,000 residents to other states every year for the last 15 years.
Not good for business
California has one of the country’s highest personal income tax rates at 13.3%. Taxes and the “greenmail,” the environmental hoops businesses have to navigate and pay for to do business there, are two of the main reasons for the mass exodus to Texas for many California businesses. Of California, Musk said, “There used to be over a dozen car plants in California. And California used to be the center of aerospace manufacturing. My companies (Tesla and SpaceX) are the last two left.” And they may not remain headquartered there for long.
