Slashdot Mirror
California's Surreal Retroactive Tax On Tech Startup Investors
waderoush writes "Engineers and hackers don't think much about tax policy, but there's a bizarre development in California that they should know about, since it could reduce the pool of angel-investment money available for tech startups. Under a tax break available since the 1990s, startup founders and other investors in California were allowed to exclude or defer their gains when they sold stock in California-based small businesses. Last year, a California appeals court ruled that the tax break was unconstitutional, since it discriminated against investors in out-of-state companies. Now the Franchise Tax Board, California's version of the IRS, has issued a notice saying how it intends to implement the ruling — and it's a doozie. Not only is the tax break gone, but anyone who claimed an exclusion or deferral on the sale of small-business stock since 2008 is about to get a big retroactive tax bill. Investors, entrepreneurs, and even the plaintiffs in the original lawsuit are up in arms about the FTB's notice, saying that it goes beyond the court's intent and that it will drive investors out of the state. This Xconomy article takes an in-depth look at the history of the court case, the FTB's ruling, and the reaction in the technology and investing communities."
In other news, much of the national deficit is due to this pathetically disorganized, in the red, severely overbudget, bloated state. Why do businesses continue to flock there? There's plenty of good homes along the east coast. Texas has a healthy tech sector. Even in the flyover state of Minnesota you can find plenty of talent. WHY CALIFORNIA PEOPLE? WHYYYyyyyy? Even Mexico didn't fight that hard for it -- they practically gave us the desolate, flood-prone, earthquake-prone, mudslide-prone, forest fire-prone state. How many hints does nature have to give a business before it takes the hint? :/
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Yes, as opposed to conservatives who can fund their spending based upon sunshine and puppy farts.
It's astonishing to me how many conservatives seem to believe that you don't need taxes to pay for services. You can just keep lowering taxes on the rich and wind up with more money than you had before.
The State Government, on the other hand is debating on how to spend surplus money or just save for the next session.
You must mean the extra state tax income Austin so nicely generated for the rest of the worthless state.