Move to Texas or else: Apple sends some California employees clear message | Hacker News Reader

Move to Texas or else: Apple sends some California employees clear message

chron.com

32 pointsbelter52 comments

"...employees who move to Austin by the end of June will receive $7,000 stipends for relocating."

I would not relocate to Austin or anywhere else in Texas for $70,000 much less $7000. Even a bastion of sanity in Texas is still in Texas. What if my daughter needed healthcare "south of the border", go to court?

I'd take my chances with the severance pay and live somewhere sane where they can keep the lights on.

No state income tax likely does make this closer to $70k annual for most of those employees. If they get to keep their California salary it's a great deal.

They were offered a $7k one-time provision to offset relocation costs, the $70k figure was just a hyperbolic quip by the commenter you replied to. The average cost of housing is certainly lower, but despite the lack of an income tax, the average state and local tax burden for median incomes in Texas is significantly higher (12.73%) than in California (8.97%) [1].

The only people for whom Texas is a better deal for taxation are in the highest income brackets, higher even than tech workers at Apple. This is the case even though access to healthcare, higher education, and public services tends to be worse. This is why eliminating income taxes in favor of consumption and property taxes is widely considered to be regressive and disproportionately targeted at lower and middle class households. The higher median tax rate then seems to simply be a redistribution mechanism to funnel additional wealth to the wealthy on the backs of working Texans.

[1] https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-be-a-taxpayer...

> the average state and local tax burden for median incomes in Texas is significantly higher (12.73%) than in California (8.97%)

> The only people for whom Texas is a better deal for taxation are in the highest income brackets, higher even than tech workers at Apple.

I pay 4-5% of my individual income in local property taxes of all types, and we pay less than 4% of our household income. And that's after recent large increases in our property value. We live in the city limits of Austin, one of the more taxed places in TX. We bought outside of downtown, but actually nearer most tech companies than downtown. Our neighborhood is perfectly safe, paying less didn't affect that. If you're in TX paying 12% of your income in taxes you probably either have a low income and inherited more house than you could otherwise afford or you made a foolish decision on where to live(had to be in that trendy part of town).

Bonus: cheap gas, cheap electricity, cheap beef, cheap groceries at H-E-B

I know Texas very well, I was married there, all my kids were born there, and it's definitely the place I felt most accepted (Texas was very different then), but I gotta say it's a bit trickier than this for folks nowadays, the government there really has gotten into everyone's business and even local cities can't pass their own laws without the state government overriding them and enforcing their ideas on everyone else. It's a shadow of the state I'd come to love. So I get why people would not be anxious to sign up for that deal ( even if they don't know that Austin is in some ways less liberal and accepting than Houston or Dallas which are much more cosmopolitan and diverse).

That said, California has literally nothing like HEB and if I could have elected HEB to be the government I would have taken that deal in a heartbeat, so you and I agree there.

> they get to keep their California salary

I don’t know about Apple in particular but this is not generally how this works.

Also, I’m not sure $70k to have to fly my daughter out of state for health care is a good trade, ymmv.

Again, Healthcare = kill my grandchild. Stay classy.

This is a despicable attitude.

If there's wind Parts of California will turn off power

Yes, in comparison, Texas has a famously stable electrical grid.

If it's remotely close to freezing for more than a day, Texas loses reason

Power is lost, people dumpster-dive, and the milk/bread sells out

Lol south of the border. What a nice way of saying,"kill my grandchild"

In ancient times, IBM stood for "I've Been Moved". Luckily the late 20th century Silicon Valley model was to keep the same house and commute to a new job instead.

Genuine question, what's up with the ardent hatred for Texas (and noncoastal cities in general)

I might lack the nuance to pick up differences, but American suburbs are remarkably consistent across the country. All the new 'inner' tech cities (Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Boulder), used to be University towns.... so they were deep blue even before us tech yuppies moved in.

I've found Americans to be rather welcoming everywhere I have gone. If anything, Seattle has been my 'least welcoming' experience so far.

Is the abortion issue that big of a factor in moving decisions ? Other than a few headlines, I doesn't seem to be particularly difficult to take an out of state visit if the need arises.

I can understand the urban density or nature as good reasons....but I find that those most opposed to the move rarely give either as reasons. (I might be projecting based on a few similar anecdotes I've been on the listening end of)

> Is the abortion issue that big of a factor in moving decisions ? Other than a few headlines, I doesn't seem to be particularly difficult to take an out of state visit if the need arises.

All other things being equal, people normally like to live in an area where local government look after their people. Or at the very least, don't actively write legislation that is designed to harm you for no compelling reason.

> Move to Texas or else: Apple sends some California employees clear message

Will they also change "Designed in California, made in China" with "Designed in Texas, made in India" ? /s

Sounds like progress to me

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