Billionaire business magnate Elon Musk has
announced
a major relocation — from the very liberal California to the
highly conservative state of Texas.
The Tesla CEO made the announcement on Tuesday during the Wall
Street Journal’s annual CEO Council summit.
What are the details?
Musk said that while there are a “lot of things” that are
“really great” about the West Coast state, he felt it prudent to
move to Texas.
“If a team has been winning for too long, they do tend to get a
little complacent, a little entitled and then they don’t win the
championship anymore,” he said during the summit. “California has
been winning for a long time. And I think they’re taking that for
granted a little bit.”
In May, Musk
tweeted that Tesla — which remains headquartered in
California at the time of this reporting — would consider moving
its headquarters facilities to Texas and Nevada after state
officials refused to permit the company’s Fremont, California,
factory to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Musk’s aerospace firm, SpaceX, also remains headquartered in
California at the time of this writing.
In his Tuesday remarks, Musk said, “First of all, Tesla and
SpaceX obviously have massive operations in California. In fact,
it’s worth noting that Tesla is the last car company still
manufacturing cars in California. SpaceX is the last aerospace
company still doing significant manufacturing in California. So.
There used to be over a dozen car plants in California. And
California used to be the center of aerospace manufacturing! My
companies are the last two left. … That’s a very important point
to make.”
He added, “For myself, yes, I have moved to Texas.”
“We’ve got [SpaceX’s] Starship development here in South Texas,
where I am right now,” he went on. “And then we’ve got big factory
developments just outside Austin.”
The factory in question, according to
CNN,
is Tesla’s Giga Texas, which will be utilized to manufacture
Tesla’s Cybertruck, Semi, and Models 3 and Y for the eastern
portion of the United States.
Fox Business reports that Musk’s personal move to Texas means
that he will “increase his chances at avoiding a 13.3% state income
tax on the capital gains he takes in the event he sells Tesla stock
or receives bonuses — though California’s Franchise Tax Board can
be known for their relentless pursuit of income taxes across state
lines. Texas has no personal income tax.”
