Well, unless you follow Musk to Texas...
Only illegal if you stay under CA rules, voluntarily? 
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Elon tweets: Solar Roof and solar panels will only be sold integrated with Powerwall
- Thread starter willow_hiller
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Only illegal if you stay under CA rules, voluntarily? Your right, your post says "for me" in it. The person quoting you, earlier in the thread made general statements that intimated a general position that "why are we trying to re invent the grid".
Because its a hot button thing for me, I read it a certain way, which is somewhat different than what you actually typed. I will apologize for reading that into it.
Well, unless you follow Musk to Texas...
Lol I actually like California. Well, except for the taxes and PG&E. The state taxes are actually worse than PG&E ... but there’s no sub forum for taxes here.
PV+ESS helps me gain distance from PG&E.
I’m still trying to find a way to gain distance from paying taxes...
pdx_m3s
Active Member
Exactly. What's right for some isn't right for all.Appropriate for some, and not for others. I still cant figure out why so many people seem to think "the right choice for me is the right choice for everyone" for stuff like this. Im not trying to tell you that powerwalls are right for you, why are you trying to tell everyone that powerwalls are not right for them?
Which is why Tesla's (alleged) policy (we'll see if it actually happens) doesn't make sense, as it adopts the, "what's right for california customers is right for everyone" approach.
Telsa is just one company, and plenty other companies sell just PV. All this does is remove tesla from the equation for those people who want just PV. Tesla doesnt have a monopoly on solar panels (which is why I said at the beginning of this thread that this should be good for third party vendors).
They (tesla) are making a business decision to get out of the "just PV" market, banking that there will be enough demand for PV + energy storage for them to not care about just PV installs. Time will tell on this, of course, but I think its good for the PV industry actually as it will push some people away from tesla and to other companies.
pdx_m3s
Active Member
I would say there are certain California taxes I do not like. But, I love our property tax rate thanks to Prop 13. 1.125% largely based on the purchase price, not current market value.
Since we are in the process of owning a second investment home in Texas we are fully aware of the stark differences between how the states are funded. Our realtor is warning us of a 50%+ increase in the property tax bill next year in the Austin area. Since Texas does not have a lot of other taxes they have to make it up in property taxes. I guess one way or another a state needs income, but dang.
skepticcyclist
Member
We bought my parents house so the property assessment value was based on the last assessment after they added on, 1985 value. So we’re paying property tax on a house valued at only $177k instead of the current $800k.
For those outside of CA, we live in a middle class neighborhood in a mostly lower class city. And a house at $800k is not considered a lot of money.
Nice, but curious how you accomplish this? Are you and your parents part of the same home-owning entity like a trust?
You are lucky. With the changes in last Nov election, a friend is trying to buy her moms house she has been in for 60 years and now it taxed at current market rate
skepticcyclist
Member
No. Just a normal purchase. But because it was a change of ownership within the family my tax lability stayed as is.
A few months after the purchase I got a letter from the state franchise tax board with papers to sign. They contacted me. I didn’t even know about it until then.
Correction. It was assessed at $122k. We bought it 5 years ago at over $400k. Now it’s worth over $700k
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pdx_m3s
Active Member
I think some level of taxes is reasonable, but California has the highest income tax and highest average sales tax. And the other taxes and policies also ranks among the worst for people who don't have rich parents to give them houses.
I agree the home property tax thing is cool... if someone actually has a freaking home. California is low/mid in terms of property tax rate that is also transferrable to a different home within the state. But then California also has planning commissions that pretty much prohibit the construction of new homes. So the property tax thing is great for people with a home (or got a asset-transferred a freebie home from a parent). But this policy is extra-punitive for people like me who just wanted to buy their first home without parents who had an extra house lying around. So in effect home buyers are hit with an implied tax to actually afford the limited stock of housing.
California also has relatively low vehicle property tax. But then California's gasoline tax is the second highest in the nation behind Pennsylvania. So effective vehicle ownership for most low/mid folks is costly, so the wealthy folks that can afford EV's get the biggest benefit to switch away from ICE. And Elon still thinks California was screwing his business with their fiscal policies.
Also consider that California has some select policies that result in higher taxes. For example, if your employer provides an HSA program and also funds your HSA account, then California is one of two states that requires the employer contribution to be taxable at the state level. And I consider PG&E's effective per-kWh rate mandated on the non-CARE and non-FERA folks is a form of tax due to the way the CPUC's polices are structured.
Being so high up on taxes isn't a good thing IMO.
As a tax lawyer I a have to pay attention to all sorts of nonsense. However, note that California has gone from getting $1.25 back for every dollar its residents pay in federal income tax in the 1950s and 1960s during the aerospace spending and fwy building times.
To getting about $.80 cents back. That $.20 cents does not sound like much but its around $20 billion a year, last time I checked.
There is not a whole lot to do about it, since the states which benefit are the ones you would imagine, and the reality is that if we left it to the Montana's of the US we could not conceivably spend what we spend on the military, nor could the resident's of those states cover their own SS and Medicare.
Anyway, you live in CA or NY or a number of other states and that's how it goes. Economic activity is not equally spread out. Nor is spending.
To getting about $.80 cents back. That $.20 cents does not sound like much but its around $20 billion a year, last time I checked.
There is not a whole lot to do about it, since the states which benefit are the ones you would imagine, and the reality is that if we left it to the Montana's of the US we could not conceivably spend what we spend on the military, nor could the resident's of those states cover their own SS and Medicare.
Anyway, you live in CA or NY or a number of other states and that's how it goes. Economic activity is not equally spread out. Nor is spending.
(moderator note: as interesting as the tax discussions are, they likely dont go in this thread. There is not a definite place for me to move them to, either (and I understand where the discussion sprang up from). I would just ask that the thread pivot back to the rampant speculati...err.. "discussion" that relates to the thread title of Tesla only selling PV (solar) with Powerwalls (energy storage solutions).
In speaking of which, I think today officially marks the first business day of "next week." I'm still seeing Powerwalls as optional on the design page. Maybe we're still missing some information that won't come to light until the earnings call?
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