"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/16/2020 at 16:53 • Filed to: Tesla
0
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"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/16/2020 at 16:53 • Filed to: Tesla | 0
| 14 |
What a gigafactory might look like
Details have been released on what Travis County, home of the city of Austin, is willing to give up in order to lure Tesla’s gigafactory to our fair city, to be built out near COTA . In a nutshell:
KXAN’s Yoojin Cho reported the investment would lead to a 70% rebate on Operations and Maintenance taxes. County officials said that would come out to about $14 million in rebates over 10 years.
Additional investment is incentivized:
75% rebate on O&M taxes on incremental investment from $1.1 – $2 billion
80% rebate on O&M taxes on incremental investment over $2 billion
The initial new facilities include approximately four million square feet or more of operating space and will create 5,001 new, full-time jobs over the next four years in Travis County.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Now, I’m not smart enough to really understand the full impact of all of this. I am, however, a property-tax-paying resident of this county, and I know that our schools get all of their money from property taxes and that most are grossly underfunded. I understand that there is also contingent development that goes along with this project, and maybe it will all work out well in the end. I guess we’ll just have to see.
Also, 5,001 is an oddly specific number, but I imagine it has something to do with “more than 5,000" in legalese.
You can read the entire agreement between Tesla and Travis County !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Not surprisingly, it’s very long.
HammerheadFistpunch
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 17:16 |
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This is the story of Utah. We throw money at big business to “bring in jobs” which is nice and all, but all it does is worsen the child to dollar ratio further.
fintail
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 17:16 |
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I know a guy who moved from suburban Seattle to Austin - his house there cost significantly less from here, but apparently his taxes didn’t change likewise. He was always one to bemoan local property taxes (which are not massive compared to many locations), and I had crocodile tears for him, as he got the house from family (of course). I have similar tears for him there.
Maybe they’ll just raise residential taxes a little more to cover any shortfalls.
Gone
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 17:20 |
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Besides the fact I highly dislike tax incentivizing businesses... And the fact if the rainy day fund doesn’t seem to be used for emergencies ( or pandemics) it should be used for something . Also, u se the damn TEF fund instead of forcing counties to do stupid tax things on a grand scale (let them work deals with smaller businesses instead). It’s debatable given Tesla’s current bullshit valuation they deserve a dime in tax relief anyways. Also, this is crap :
What Travis County is offering is in addition to what the Del Valle Independent School District voted to approve last week.
The school district’s deal involves agreeing to cap Tesla’s taxable property value at $80 million for 10 years. According to a calculation done by consultants, without the cap, the taxable value would be on average $600 million over 10 years.
By placing the cap, Tesla is projected to save about $50 million in taxes over 10 years.
Not sure the prop tax rates there (ISD p
or
tion
here is ~
1.4
5
%
), which is a metric butt
ton of funding provided via
homeowners... B
ut the school funding part would be the biggest frustration for me. Tech co’s
should be okay with paying a lot more in school related prop tax and use it to push STEM/sponsor things in district or surrounding area districts. Opportunity to
be a good corporate citizen lost.
.. Instead the prop tax rate on homeowners will probably go up instead. *rolleyes*
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ttyymmnn
> Gone
07/16/2020 at 17:29 |
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Instead the prop tax rate on homeowners will probably go up instead. *rolleyes*
It’s got to come from somewhere. Cuz it ain’t coming from Tesla.
nermal
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 17:38 |
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There’s an interesting read on these deals here:
In summary, they mainly benefit the company, not the community . If you are a business you should still try to get them. If you are a government official that is set to directly personally benefit from them , then you should also encourage them.
WRXforScience
> fintail
07/16/2020 at 17:46 |
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Texas doesn’t have income tax, so property taxes are higher than other places to make up for it.
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fintail
> WRXforScience
07/16/2020 at 17:55 |
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WA doesn’t have income tax either.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 18:15 |
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Louisiana has a program where the state has the authority grant a business property taxes exemptions even if the local governments don’t want them to. Of course, the exemptions affect the local governments the most. Tax payers have had no say in the process whatsoever.
Recently, there has been some reform. Executive orders by the governor are now giving the local political entities a seat at the table and the governor powers to veto exemptions when the proposed exemption doesn’t create new jobs.
It’s not much, but it’s a start.
For Sweden
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 18:49 |
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Why even offer Tesla anything? I know Oklahoma was trying to attract the factory, but Oklahoma no longer exists.
Verdog ~ manual Bro, Bro - HellHawk Equipped
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 19:25 |
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So, it goes all ways. you know Travis Co and Austin are hardcore left, yet BDop is Right.
Tax incentives for corps always outweighs individual taxes. Here in TX we don’t do either, which wins all the time.
It is never a win - win. although each side will argue their side only.
Roadkilled
> ttyymmnn
07/16/2020 at 19:48 |
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Part of the challenge is that it becomes extremely difficult for the average person to figure out what the cost will be and what the benefit will be.
I remember when there were discussions around the Dakota Access Pipeline. There were claims of a large number of new jobs being created. It turned out that a “job” was two man-years of work. Most of the “jobs” that were created were not permanent, and they were for construction employees that took most of their pay home to somewhere far away from where the construction occurred.
If Tesla says they will create jobs, but how long will they last? How much tax revenue will Travis County get back in sales tax? Will a significant fraction of the employees live in adjacent counties and spend their money there?
On the other hand, how much is the empty land worth now? How much property tax revenue does it generate? Are there other businesses willing to develop along 130? Would those other businesses improve the land values to bring in more property tax revenue than you get from Tesla?
Personally, I hate seeing taxes used for incentives, whether it’s property tax rebates for companies or the convoluted tax code used to incentivize individuals. Some people and companies will have the money to hire tax attorneys to help them work the system to their advantage, and everybody else gets to cover the shortfall.
My guess is that bringing in Tesla will not provide significant benefits. It looks good on paper, but the math may not work out in the end. There also the opportunity cost of having the county spend a lot of effort trying to win Tesla, when the same amount of effort could probably provide something good to existing Travis County businesses that would provide better results.
End of rant.
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ttyymmnn
> Roadkilled
07/16/2020 at 19:50 |
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If you click the link for the deep dive, there are very specific definitions that Tesla seemingly had to agree to as to what constitutes at FT job.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> For Sweden
07/16/2020 at 20:22 |
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Did I miss something?
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For Sweden
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/16/2020 at 20:33 |
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53358330