Tx Governor trying to steal Washington jobs (Seattle: loans, home)

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

I can actually answer this. The things California provides that Texas doesn't:

-A HUGE pension for government workers. Nothing quite like being guaranteed 80% of your salary and health benefits for life after working for a mere 20 years. The government workers' union has single-handedly bankrupted the state. And to think that they get better retirement pay than our military...WTF?

-Cleaner air. Of course, this comes at the cost of ridiculously stringent air quality standards which has resulted in a lot of companies fleeing California to states like Texas. I'm not sure the air is cleaner. Too often when I drive up I-15 or I-5 near LA I see the entire valley blanketed in a thick smog. CA is cursed and blessed by mountain ranges. Blessed because they are pretty. Cursed because they act like a dam for air pollution. It scares me to think of what the air quality would be like if they didn't have tough standards. That said, if you need to do that then you should also provide adequate incentives for business so that they do not move.

-Better health care for illegal immigrants and welfare queens Learned this lesson the hard way. My wife was having pregnancy complications and sat in the emergency room waiting area for 7 hours (bleeding) before being seen. Why? The place was chock full of illegal immigrants getting free care. That was the last time I will ever visit an emergency room anywhere near a part of town with a lot of illegal immigrants.

-Special tax incentives for "going green". Of course, California has no idea how to actually cover the expenses of this, but that doesn't stop them, anyways. I'm all for green. However, I'm fiscally conservative and simply think you have to figure out how to pay for it first. There are all kinds of good things I could do for my household right now, but I can't afford every good idea I can think of.

-Special protections for those who just feel that looking out for themselves or being able to make their own decisions is just too much work or too dangerous. California politicians are always coming to the rescue with things like bans on toys in Happy Meals, bans on bottled water and soda drinks, ludicrous restrictions on tobacco sales, and taxing anything the government deems unseemly in an effort to control social behavior. California goes out of its way to protect you from yourself.

-The ability to wake up every morning and genuinely have no clue what that whacky government is going to come up with next.

We have some similar thoughts. I'm of the belief that economics and business 101 should be mandatory subjects. People would stop voting for politicians that get us in this mess. Well, maybe just enough would stop voting for them to make a difference.

Hopefully Washington has more realists than CA.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by CarlB328

The only class warfare is businesses and banks ripping us off every day, and congress giving them special rights while taking ours away.

Taxes are not class warfare- at least not at a reasonable rate like this.

Funny how those who won't be paying the tax (at least today) always say how reasonable it is to increase them. It's easy to take money out of someone elses pocket.

A state government that took a billion dollar surplus and turned it into a $8 billion deficit in just a few years doesn't have any business trying to raise taxes on anyone. They need to CUT SPENDING.

[Inkpoe]

TWO Billion dollar surplus. But Gov. Gregoire pretty much lay blame on President Bush, so it's ok for them to raise taxes to "fix" this problem.

[eskercurve]

I think that the TX governor is being shrewd. Most business owners will simply ignore it, because if you move a company, it will mean a HUGE expense, moving equipment, people (paying their moving expenses, the ones that stay on ... of course they could just say "we're going and you're coming or losing your job and we're not paying your moving" but that will net them zero interest in moving).

What the TX governor is doing is poaching small business owners who make a significant amount of coin. Thing is though, a lot of the small businesses here are mom and pop shops that operate within the community. So they can't just say one day "well we're going to move to TX".

So he's basically looking for more growth from people who are already looking to start a business. And it will be a tough nut to crack. TX has high-tech sectors, sure, but nothing has WA's appeal ... though if you want to drive job growth, and not just stagnate, I can see how I-1098 can affect that.

Me, personally, I would not live in Texas, I've heard a number of stories from friends of mine who work in my industry and only said bad things about the state (except of course the people FROM TX, who always say it's the bees knees with their giant toast or something).

Eh, I don't see much of a difference because of the inertia up here ... there's SO many highly skilled people who are already established and love this area and the area is still growing, I have a hard time imagining any sane business owner giving up unless it was for a good business reason.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

Eh, I don't see much of a difference because of the inertia up here ... there's SO many highly skilled people who are already established and love this area and the area is still growing, I have a hard time imagining any sane business owner giving up unless it was for a good business reason.

Yes... but, this is exactly the thinking that applied to CA and it didn't prevent companies leaving looking to improve their bottom line.

Companies started leaving back in the late 70's and 80's and it continues today... as mentioned with the 5000 direct employee's of the Toyota plant... this is a complete reversal of the influx of qualified and skilled people in the 50's and 60's...

School district was in crisis to find room for all the new students at my Bay Area school in the 60's... seemed like everyone, from every State was headed to California with a job waiting.

[AzDreamer]

Over half of all new jobs created in the last year were created in Texas. Seems to me that Texas might be doing something right.

What does Austin know that Washington doesn’t? At its simplest: Don’t overtax and -spend, keep regulations to a minimum, avoid letting unions and trial lawyers run riot, and display an enormous neon sign saying, “Open for Business.”

Over half of all new jobs created in the last year were created in Texas | Washington Examiner (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/over-half-of-all-new-jobs-created-in-the-last-year-were-created-in-texas-105174384.html - broken link)

[just4ivaylo]

Originally Posted by Wolf14016

It's just smoke. The cost of moving a business - especially a larger one - halfway across the country would probably cost more then a business may lose on I-1098.

And last time I checked, I-1098 was pretty far behind in the polls.

Plus, who in their right mind would want to live in Texas? I was stationed there and it was miserable.

Maybe people who can't afford to live on the Eastside? I used to live in Bellevue and now I live in the suburbs of Houston. It is hell compared to Bellevue. It's ugly, it's full of rude people and idiotic drivers...but the bottom line is this: it's cheaper here than it is in WA and in these economic times, cheap is where people go.

School districts down here are expanding every single year. Kids are being rezoned to different schools because they're becoming overcrowded. The high school I attend does not even begin to compare to the high school that I went to in Bellevue. But again, it's cheaper and in the end, you get what you pay for.

Like someone above said, maybe this state IS doing something right to foster growth in both population and jobs created.

Oh, one last thing...Rick Perry is an idiot.

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

Fact: Texas has no state income tax

Fact: Austin is a lot like Seattle in many ways (strong tech sector, centrist-progressive attitudes, top-notch university system in the city, music, activities, etc.)

Fact: The proposed income tax is an open act of class-warfare on the successful

Fact: If it passes, successful people will leave Washington

Fact: You can't poke a successful person in the eye with a stick and yell "Hi-Yah! Take THAT, evil-doer! Transfer your wealth to me!" and just blindly expect the entity being poked to take it. You can't suddenly go "hey, wait! Where are you going? You're supposed to stay and transfer your wealth to me!"

Fact: Other states look at Seattle and think "man, they've got a lot of top-notch businesses and amazingly skilled talent up there". You can't suddenly express "outrage" at other states who see a potential opportunity to poach away some top-level, FDA Prime, grad-a level talent to their states. Businesses look at this state and go "hey, this is a great place to set up shop, it's not hostile to growth or business. There's a lot of great talent up here, and the area is so appealing that it will be easy to attract even more talent". If the income tax passes, that all changes. Perry's a slimeball all-in-all, but in this instance, he's simply being very shrewd. If that income tax passes, Texas will suddenly become a very attractive state to highly skilled talent, because Texas doesn't declare open war on people who are successful like some in Washington do. It's just good business to seize upon an opportunity. And if the income tax passes, Perry won't be the only one actively attempting to lure away great companies that set up shop here because of a positive environment years ago, only to now find that it's becoming hostile.

Fact: The fact that you called the state that has a very progressive Seattle-Lite type of city in Austin, the 4th largest city in the country in Houston, and a city with a strong economy like Dallas a "state full of cavemen" makes me wonder how it is such an extreeeeeeeme left winger ever found his way down there in the 1st place. Portland is the place for you.

Polls I have seen indicate that the wealthy are willing to support the tax in WA. And I would submit most would lose more than they gain moving in a huff over a relatively small tax on income.

Threaten all you like. You should like Texas.

[CarlB328]

maybe this state IS doing something right to foster growth in both population and jobs created

Population growth is not sustainable, neither is building as many strip malls as houses.

The reason Tx has jobs is because land is cheap and there's no regulations on anything. I would move back to Washington in a heartbeat however, if I could land a decent paying job there.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by AlohaHuey

Polls I have seen indicate that the wealthy are willing to support the tax in WA. And I would submit most would lose more than they gain moving in a huff over a relatively small tax on income.

Threaten all you like. You should like Texas.

That's funny, because I live in an affluent area, and all I see are no on 1098 signs. Methinks you found some extreme leftist polling place that released a bogus one and are clinging to it.

Thankfully, it seems to be WELL down in the polls.