Slashdot Mirror
Direct Sales OK Baked Into Nevada's $1.3 Billion Incentive Deal With Tesla
The new battery factory that Tesla has announced it will build in Nevada comes with some nice perks: specifically, with a package of tax incentives, road construction, and legislative protection from the kind of dealer cartels that have hindered Tesla's ability to sell cars in some other states. A Bloomberg wire story gives some details about the size of the deal that Nevada made to attract the company: The biggest chunk of the deal, Tesla's sales tax exemptions, is worth an estimated at $725 million. In addition, the company would save more than an estimated $300 million in payroll and other taxes through 2024. ... Among the bills approved in both houses was a provision phasing out and eliminating 1970s-era tax credits for insurance companies, which backers said would free up about $125 million over five years beginning in 2016 for transferable tax credits to Tesla. The package would also gut a pilot program approved just last year giving tax credits to the film industry, freeing up about $70 million for Tesla. ... Lawmakers also agreed to buy right of way to build a road connecting I-80 and U.S. 50, a project estimated to cost $43 million that will improve access to the industrial park from other regions of the state.
As a non-American, I find the notion a government exempting one specific company from one or several taxes bizarre. Is this really legal in the U.S.? Why?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
As much as I detest the man, Harry Reid has nothing to do with the State Legislature, other than perhaps some back channel clout with certain lawmakers. This is a State thing, not a Federal thing.
They are anti-competitive, and bad for the economy.
Frankly, the federal government should put a user fee on them at a prohibitive rate - i.e. 50%, paid out of the money given.
That is, if a state wishes to give a benefit worth $100 million to a company, that company owes $50 million paid immediately.
These things are usually paid to convince someone to build X in Y state, rather than Z state. It is almost never paid to get something built inside the USA, rather than outside the USA.
As such, any benefit to that particular state is outweighed by the loss to another state.
It is even worse when it comes to sports teams. Then, usually the teams make out like a bandit without in any way increasing the economy of the state (in particular, big cities will always get sports teams, even if the city refuses to build a stadium, because the city is where the CUSTOMERS for sports teams live. People in NYC are not going to suddenly decided to root for and see baseball in New Jersey if the Yankees and Mets leave the city. Not even if the stadium is build in Hoboken. Instead, some other team will build a stadium in New York, earn a ton of money from New Yorkers coming to them, then buy good players and suddenly everyone will be rooting for the NYC Metros, or whatever they call themselves (just like New Yorkers don't still root for the Dodgers, after all.)
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
So the view of the other single wide mobile homes and the washer dryer sets in the front "yard" will be obscured?
Nevada, for the most part, is dirt and weeds.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Yep, and with the advancement of portable fusion reactors the need for supercaps will be going sharply down. And with the advancement of Star Trek-style transporters the need for cars will be going sharply down. And with the advancement of brain uploading technologies the need for physical transportation will be going sharply down. And so on...
But in reality, businesses will develop their fields until they become completely unprofitable. SSDs are completely mainstream now, but all major HDD manufacturers are still developing new HDDs, and do not seem to slow down.
And I don't see how these supercaps would outperform lithium batteries in terms of cost, efficiency, reliability and so on in the nearest decade or so. Of course, I want my goddamned flying car right now, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't buy some nice Tesla in the meantime.
Absence of proof != proof of absence.
Most options do not involve simple add-ons, but fundamentally different components or treatment (engine types, upholstery, paint colour). There is no such thing as a vanilla model.
What you propose is essentially moving the final assembly to dealerships. That is much less efficient, it would require massive dealerships with massive investments and the only benefit would be that cars can be delivered somewhat quicker.
Money flows. 100,000 people working at a factory all need to spend the money they earn on consumer goods, food, and housing. All of that money makes a lot of taxes for the state, even if Tesla is not paying much tax.
>True... However the dealership model is one of the few decent middle class jobs creator in the country that doesn't require a lot of education and/or certification.
It used to be, but sadly that is no longer true. The owner makes good money, and so do the parts manager, shop manager and sales manager. Sales droids, for the most part, don't make a living wage and don't last very long, with the exception of maybe 10% of them. Parts guys don't make squat. The mechanics make a good middle-class income, but that work needs to be done anyway whether at the dealership or a private shop. Also, being a mechanic these days takes an AA degree and lots of certifications.
If car companies owned the retail outlets, it would all be pretty much the same, except the owner wouldn't be getting rich. If one guy owns half the Ford dealerships in the state, how is that better than Ford Motor Co. owning them?
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
aftermarket maintenance
That is a fantastic way to say "oil change". Thank god we have these precious dealers to bequeath unto us their holy ritual that we mere mortals are unable of performing. And let us not speak of those ne'er-do-well dens of scum and villainy known as ANY OTHER MECHANIC.
but if a political party (let's say the GOP) proposed general tax cuts that apply to everyone, it would be mocked and pilloried by the commie libs who post here. Why?
Commie lib here: because the GOP's tax cut proposals always amount to massive cuts for their hyper-rich campaign donors, coupled with a fig-leaf of minor tax savings for everyone else, followed one year later by the inevitable budget crunch
that then impacts the quality of life of everyone except those who can afford to seal themselves away from society. It's a grift -- everyone but the GOP's campaign funders end up poorer afterwards.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
FTA: The gigafactory is expected to create 6,500 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs.
What's this about 100K jobs?
Wild just means they live in the wild; whether the animal is indigenous or exotic is another question.