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tax break, what else? After officially announcing plans to build a data center in Prineville on Thursday, Facebook officials told The Bulletin that the tax inc

by borism 16y ago

tax break, what else? After officially announcing plans to build a data center in Prineville on Thursday, Facebook officials told The Bulletin that the tax incentive offered to the company through an enterprise zone was a key reason it came to Central Oregon. By locating its new data center in the zone, Facebook will be excused from paying as much as $2.8 million a year in local taxes. http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100122/NEWS0107/1220410/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01 http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100... Seriously, 50bn SecondMarket cap company looking to save $2.8 million in taxes?

yummyfajitas 16y ago
Seriously, 50bn SecondMarket cap company looking to save $2.8 million in taxes? $2 million here, $3 million there, sooner or later it adds up to real money. A $50 billion company doesn't stay a $50 billion company by blowing $2.8 million on nothing. Sadly, that's a lesson the California gov never learned. If they had, they might not be wasting similar amounts of money on pensions for criminals. http://www.newsoxy.com/world/disgraced-sheriff-pension-13760.html http://www.newsoxy.com/world/disgraced-sheriff-pension-13760...
- borism 16y ago
  by blowing $2.8 million on nothing sure, so now Oregon will loan additional $2.8M here and $3M there until it itself becomes the California and comes back to FB asking for money. Of course by then there will be plenty of bankrupt states (countries even?) willing to offer tax breaks to help wonderful companies like FB to relocate.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    Or perhaps Oregon will just spend $900 per person less than California. http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/287.html http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/287.html This move is a win for Oregon. A small pieces of something is better than a big piece of nothing (which is all CA gets).
    - borism 16y ago
      Wow, how did Alaska manage to outspend pretty much everyone by 100+% ? Bridges to nowhere and stuff like that? Anyway, this is getting offtopic since this $2.8M p.a. is breadcrumbs compared to what FB employees will be paying in tax to California and Washington after the liquidity event. And it's not like THEY'll be moving from Silicon Valley any time soon. So no, Cali is still getting plenty of it.
- yequalsx 16y ago
  You can find examples of some public employees getting outrageous pensions but these examples are at not typical. Given that California has a huge budget shortfall are you suggesting that this shortfall is due mostly to outrageous pensions? We presently live in a system where states often times compete with each other to offer incentives to attract factories or other operations that employ a lot of people. These tax incentives are paid for by the people of the state, that is, by the workers. It's a perverse system. Maybe companies should be willing to pay their share of national defense, roads, etc.
  - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
    California is facing potentially catastrophic future problems from unfunded pension liabilities [1]. And ridiculous numbers of blue-collar state positions get six figure salaries and the generous pensions that go with them. It would be nice if we could do that, but the math just doesn't work, which is why California's problems are only going to get worse unless drastic action is taken. And it won't be until things get really bad. 1. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/06/opinion/la-oe-crane6-2010apr06 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/06/opinion/la-oe-crane6...
    - borism 16y ago
      did you notice the /opinion/ part in the url you provide? please do not submit someone's opinion as a fact.
  - nowarninglabel 16y ago
    The shortfall itself is due mostly to decreased revenues as opposed to increased expenditures. That said, pension expenditures are a fairly good size chunk. There is a decent overview here http://reason.org/news/show/fix-california-pension-crisis http://reason.org/news/show/fix-california-pension-crisis but if you want to drill down through the data itself, it is available here: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html
    - yequalsx 16y ago
jbellis 16y ago
I believe the evaluation for large data center locations looks something like this: 1) Where can we get cheap power? 2) Of those locations, where can we save on taxes, building costs, labor, etc? AFAIK there isn't anywhere in CA that qualifies for 1).

by borism 16y ago

yummyfajitas 16y ago

Seriously, 50bn SecondMarket cap company looking to save $2.8 million in taxes? $2 million here, $3 million there, sooner or later it adds up to real money. A $50 billion company doesn't stay a $50 billion company by blowing $2.8 million on nothing. Sadly, that's a lesson the California gov never learned. If they had, they might not be wasting similar amounts of money on pensions for criminals. http://www.newsoxy.com/world/disgraced-sheriff-pension-13760.html http://www.newsoxy.com/world/disgraced-sheriff-pension-13760...

borism 16y ago
by blowing $2.8 million on nothing sure, so now Oregon will loan additional $2.8M here and $3M there until it itself becomes the California and comes back to FB asking for money. Of course by then there will be plenty of bankrupt states (countries even?) willing to offer tax breaks to help wonderful companies like FB to relocate.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  Or perhaps Oregon will just spend $900 per person less than California. http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/287.html http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/287.html This move is a win for Oregon. A small pieces of something is better than a big piece of nothing (which is all CA gets).
  - borism 16y ago
    Wow, how did Alaska manage to outspend pretty much everyone by 100+% ? Bridges to nowhere and stuff like that? Anyway, this is getting offtopic since this $2.8M p.a. is breadcrumbs compared to what FB employees will be paying in tax to California and Washington after the liquidity event. And it's not like THEY'll be moving from Silicon Valley any time soon. So no, Cali is still getting plenty of it.
yequalsx 16y ago
You can find examples of some public employees getting outrageous pensions but these examples are at not typical. Given that California has a huge budget shortfall are you suggesting that this shortfall is due mostly to outrageous pensions? We presently live in a system where states often times compete with each other to offer incentives to attract factories or other operations that employ a lot of people. These tax incentives are paid for by the people of the state, that is, by the workers. It's a perverse system. Maybe companies should be willing to pay their share of national defense, roads, etc.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  California is facing potentially catastrophic future problems from unfunded pension liabilities [1]. And ridiculous numbers of blue-collar state positions get six figure salaries and the generous pensions that go with them. It would be nice if we could do that, but the math just doesn't work, which is why California's problems are only going to get worse unless drastic action is taken. And it won't be until things get really bad. 1. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/06/opinion/la-oe-crane6-2010apr06 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/06/opinion/la-oe-crane6...
  - borism 16y ago
    did you notice the /opinion/ part in the url you provide? please do not submit someone's opinion as a fact.
- nowarninglabel 16y ago
  The shortfall itself is due mostly to decreased revenues as opposed to increased expenditures. That said, pension expenditures are a fairly good size chunk. There is a decent overview here http://reason.org/news/show/fix-california-pension-crisis http://reason.org/news/show/fix-california-pension-crisis but if you want to drill down through the data itself, it is available here: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/Enacted/agencies.html
  - yequalsx 16y ago

jbellis 16y ago

I believe the evaluation for large data center locations looks something like this: 1) Where can we get cheap power? 2) Of those locations, where can we save on taxes, building costs, labor, etc? AFAIK there isn't anywhere in CA that qualifies for 1).