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Not only that, but he himself left California for Austin. He's in the set of people he's complaining about. [Edit: Apparently not Austin, but some other place

Not only that, but he himself left California for Austin. He's in the set of people he's complaining about. [Edit: Apparently not Austin, but some other place - point still stands]

scottlocklin 6y ago
I have never lived in Austin. I never will: too many Californians have ruined the place; now they've got skyrocketing housing prices, traffic, homeless tent cities with rivers of human feces and the general high quality of life one can find in other paradisical California shit holes. No doubt they'll find a way to jack the taxes up if enough move to Texas. Very typical of a Palo Alto resident to think the only problem with California is prop-13 or some obscure housing policy or whatever. You can't even breathe the goddamned air in your utopia, the tax rate makes France look reasonable, the highways are designed for 1/4 the population density, the power outages are Zimbabwe tier, riots over ... people saying things, and you think a housing policy adjustment is gonna make it all better? Maybe you should try leaving your $4m bungalo bubble once in a while? Actually, no, stay right there. Enjoy it; you earned it.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > the tax rate makes France look reasonable, France has taxes around 45% of GDP, California has (including all levels, including federal) around 30%, the US as a whole (again, counting all levels) is around 25%. California is one of the higher overall tax jurisdictions in the US, but unless your argument is that the US as a whole has unreasonably low taxes, I don't get how you can say California makes France look reasonable.
  - scottlocklin 6y ago
    You obviously don't live in California, don't make enough money to pay taxes, or are just being cussed. The US top end tax rate is 37%, plus California is .... what? 13? You're already up to giving away half of what you make in California. Meanwhile you have to pay taxes on physical property like your house, and your house is valued at 7 figures if you live in the Bay Area. Finally, there was a VAT the last time I lived there. Meaning pretty much everything you buy with your money is also taxed. So yeah. France. Except the wine and everything else is shittier and costs more in California. France also has a functioning social welfare and medical system, and somehow manages to keep the electricity on and the air breathable. Pretty sure the murder rate in France, terrorism and everything, is significantly lower as well. Oh yeah: completely ridiculous criminal things like this basically don't happen as often in France: https://mobile.twitter.com/SFPDTenderloin/status/1334245062780153857 https://mobile.twitter.com/SFPDTenderloin/status/13342450627...
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > You obviously don't live in California, Only for a little over 4 decades. > don't make enough money to pay taxes, Yeah, let's just say my household income is in the top 10% in the state, so no. > or are just being cussed. If by “being cussed” you mean “understand the difference between total tax rates and top end marginal income tax rates in a progressive tax system”, then, yes it must be this one. If not, you've missed at least one important possibility. > The US top end tax rate is 37%, plus California is .... what? 13? You're already up to giving away half of what you make in California. If you make enough in regular income that essentially all of your income is taxed at the maximum marginal federal and state, sure. But virtually no one does that , one, because, first, you have to make a huge amount of income for that to be the case, and, second, if you make enough income for that to be the case, you probably have plenty of opportunity to structure how you make income so that, again, it's not. (Of course, while France’s top marginal income tax rate is “only” 45%, it makes a lot more of it's revenue from non-regular-income taxes than anyplace in the US, with a 20% standard VAT rate and a 42.2% top tax rate, including surtaxes and social charges, on capital gains.) > Meanwhile you have to pay taxes on physical property like your house, and your house is valued at 7 figures if you live in the Bay Area You don't have to pay full-value on the house except in the year you bought it, assuming market appreciation of > 2%/annum because prop 13. > Finally, there was a VAT the last time I lived there There has never been a VAT in any part of California. There is a sales tax, which is not a VAT, which is not a VAT, and the maximum sales tax rate in the state is 10.25%.
      - scottlocklin 6y ago
        Go look at the title: do you think your household income qualifies as "tech elites?" The rest of it: I'll let you have the fact that the VAT in California is called "sales tax" -it's the highest in the US, FWIIW. And you evidently are incapable of addition and subtraction, so discussing the rest of it is irrelevant. Which is pretty much why I want you to stay there. Too many like you. Stay there and enjoy your utopia; you deserve it.
        dragonwriter 6y ago
- Apocryphon 6y ago
  Prop 13 is hardly obscure.

Not only that, but he himself left California for Austin. He's in the set of people he's complaining about. [Edit: Apparently not Austin, but some other place - point still stands]

scottlocklin 6y ago

I have never lived in Austin. I never will: too many Californians have ruined the place; now they've got skyrocketing housing prices, traffic, homeless tent cities with rivers of human feces and the general high quality of life one can find in other paradisical California shit holes. No doubt they'll find a way to jack the taxes up if enough move to Texas. Very typical of a Palo Alto resident to think the only problem with California is prop-13 or some obscure housing policy or whatever. You can't even breathe the goddamned air in your utopia, the tax rate makes France look reasonable, the highways are designed for 1/4 the population density, the power outages are Zimbabwe tier, riots over ... people saying things, and you think a housing policy adjustment is gonna make it all better? Maybe you should try leaving your $4m bungalo bubble once in a while? Actually, no, stay right there. Enjoy it; you earned it.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> the tax rate makes France look reasonable, France has taxes around 45% of GDP, California has (including all levels, including federal) around 30%, the US as a whole (again, counting all levels) is around 25%. California is one of the higher overall tax jurisdictions in the US, but unless your argument is that the US as a whole has unreasonably low taxes, I don't get how you can say California makes France look reasonable.
- scottlocklin 6y ago
  You obviously don't live in California, don't make enough money to pay taxes, or are just being cussed. The US top end tax rate is 37%, plus California is .... what? 13? You're already up to giving away half of what you make in California. Meanwhile you have to pay taxes on physical property like your house, and your house is valued at 7 figures if you live in the Bay Area. Finally, there was a VAT the last time I lived there. Meaning pretty much everything you buy with your money is also taxed. So yeah. France. Except the wine and everything else is shittier and costs more in California. France also has a functioning social welfare and medical system, and somehow manages to keep the electricity on and the air breathable. Pretty sure the murder rate in France, terrorism and everything, is significantly lower as well. Oh yeah: completely ridiculous criminal things like this basically don't happen as often in France: https://mobile.twitter.com/SFPDTenderloin/status/1334245062780153857 https://mobile.twitter.com/SFPDTenderloin/status/13342450627...
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > You obviously don't live in California, Only for a little over 4 decades. > don't make enough money to pay taxes, Yeah, let's just say my household income is in the top 10% in the state, so no. > or are just being cussed. If by “being cussed” you mean “understand the difference between total tax rates and top end marginal income tax rates in a progressive tax system”, then, yes it must be this one. If not, you've missed at least one important possibility. > The US top end tax rate is 37%, plus California is .... what? 13? You're already up to giving away half of what you make in California. If you make enough in regular income that essentially all of your income is taxed at the maximum marginal federal and state, sure. But virtually no one does that , one, because, first, you have to make a huge amount of income for that to be the case, and, second, if you make enough income for that to be the case, you probably have plenty of opportunity to structure how you make income so that, again, it's not. (Of course, while France’s top marginal income tax rate is “only” 45%, it makes a lot more of it's revenue from non-regular-income taxes than anyplace in the US, with a 20% standard VAT rate and a 42.2% top tax rate, including surtaxes and social charges, on capital gains.) > Meanwhile you have to pay taxes on physical property like your house, and your house is valued at 7 figures if you live in the Bay Area You don't have to pay full-value on the house except in the year you bought it, assuming market appreciation of > 2%/annum because prop 13. > Finally, there was a VAT the last time I lived there There has never been a VAT in any part of California. There is a sales tax, which is not a VAT, which is not a VAT, and the maximum sales tax rate in the state is 10.25%.
    - scottlocklin 6y ago
      Go look at the title: do you think your household income qualifies as "tech elites?" The rest of it: I'll let you have the fact that the VAT in California is called "sales tax" -it's the highest in the US, FWIIW. And you evidently are incapable of addition and subtraction, so discussing the rest of it is irrelevant. Which is pretty much why I want you to stay there. Too many like you. Stay there and enjoy your utopia; you deserve it.
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
Apocryphon 6y ago
Prop 13 is hardly obscure.