First…yesterday I criticized those who think taxes have no impact on behavior. Yes, there really are people who think taxes don’t affect how people act. This story from CNBC is about yet another of the countless examples of how taxes profoundly influence behavior.
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and founder of a venture firm named 8VC, is moving his company headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. In an interview, Lonsdale specifically cited California’s high taxes as a key reason why the company was moving to Texas. Peter Thiel, co-founder and Chairman of Palantir, recently announced that his company headquarters were also leaving California and moving to Denver, Colorado.
If they can, people vote with their feet. Making rich people poorer will not make poor people richer, at least not in the developed world. The politics of envy are a road to nowhere.
Second…Hallelujah! Fack Fucebook is likely to be the subject of two antitrust lawsuits, including one that could be filed as early as next week. State attorneys general are preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook as soon as next week and at least 20 to 30 states could join in. Many sources are reporting that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also likely to file an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook.
Facebook has a de facto monopoly on “social media” especially when one considers that they own Instagram. I have tremendous respect for Jim Cramer of CNBC, but disagree with him on this issue. The possibility that the cost of digital advertising will increase if Facebook is broken up is a poor reason for not doing so. The power the company has is dangerous and time and time again they have shown disrespect for the data of their customers.
Delete Facebook! Fack Fucebook!
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What was the best-selling car in the US fifty years ago, or 1970 for those of you who are mathematically challenged? It was a model that sold over a million units for model year 1965 and even though by 1970 that figure had diminished by more than half, it was still at the top of the heap. Here is a picture (from Classic Car Database):
This is a 1970 Chevrolet Impala. For that year about 496,000 Impalas were produced. Based on my admittedly less than thorough research, I believe the #2 car model was the Ford LTD at about 374,000.
For a model that was so successful for so many years, it is quite sad to me that the Impala is no longer being produced and probably never will be again. From the first year that the Impala was a completely separate model, 1959, through 1968–ten model years–more than seven million Impalas were produced.
As I have recounted before in this blog, I have a sentimental attachment to the Impala. When my ’67 GTO was wrecked in an accident two weeks before I was to leave for college for the first time, it was my father’s ’61 Impala that got me back and forth between home and college during my first semester. My aunt and uncle owned a ’64 that they would let me pretend to drive.
Car enthusiasts, particularly American car enthusiasts, should acknowledge the significance of the Chevrolet Impala.
#ThrowbackThursday
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#TaxesMatter
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Disaffected Musings 
Re Palantir, aren’t those taxes the same ones that fund the government contracts that have kept the company solvent for the seventeen years they didn’t show a profit? Asking for a friend.
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I don’t think California state taxes have funded Palantir, which primarily works with the federal government, I believe. Lonsdale specifically mentioned California taxes and not taxes in general. Here is the key finding from a study by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch after the state we know well, Maryland, passed a “millionaire” income tax in 2007:
A Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis of federal tax return data on people who migrated from one state to another found that Maryland lost $1 billion of its net tax base in 2008 by residents moving to other states. That’s income that’s now being taxed and is financing services in Virginia, South Carolina and elsewhere.
If they can, people vote with their feet.
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Taxes, and overall cost of living (which is effected by taxes), fuels many moves. Not so much for folks going out on their own for the first time, but more so once you start trying to improve your net worth’s bottom line. Taxes and COL were a major factor in my move to my present general location some 40 years ago, and even 13 years ago to my current exact location, outside the major metro area. A few hundred here and a few hundred there, and soon you’re talking about real money.
I’ve long been a fan of mid to late sixties styling, including Impalas. I do have an extra soft spot for the 58, due to my “ownership” of a rusty, ragged, wore out 58 Del Ray wagon, 6 cyl 3 on the tree, as a 12 year old. I abused that car mercilessly in the fields and woods near our house for a summer. The best thing? The radio worked. 🙂
In order of “like” for me, it would be 1958 convertible, 64 two door hardtop, 65-67 convertible. I have owned a couple of Bel Air’s, a 65 and a 68, over the years just never pulled the trigger on an Imp. Maybe someday.
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Many thanks for your thoughtful comment, DDM.
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