Giving an employee an option on a $30 unit of stock with a $30 dollar strike price has no tax implications. Giving the same option with a $1 strike price means

Giving an employee an option on a $30 unit of stock with a $30 dollar strike price has no tax implications. Giving the same option with a $1 strike price means $29 of immediate taxable income. Multiply by an early employee grant size and you're looking at bankruptcy from taxes on completely illiquid assets. This is also why options are strongly preferred to actual stock.