Trending Now

San Fran. Mayor Tears Into Elon Musk, Says Billionaire "Took Money and Ran"

San Fran. Mayor Tears Into Elon Musk, Says Billionaire "Took Money and Ran"

Billionaire Elon Musk famously moved his Tesla headquarters to Austin, Texas, leaving the San Francisco Bay area behind. Now, San Fran's mayor is tearing into the tech scion.

In October 2021, Musk and his team completed their move to the Lone Star State. At the time, the Austin American-Statesman shared that, as of October 7 last year, "the company has formally relocated its corporate headquarters to the same site as the $1.1 billion manufacturing facility it is currently building in southeastern Travis County."

San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently sat down with Bloomberg, expressing her distaste for Musk's California departure during the interview. 

Although the outlet didn't share the question that prompted Breed's frustrated response, at one point she addressed "reshaping the narrative" of the City by the Bay as a bastion of crime and poverty, ultimately tearing into Musk saying, “You mean the person who got a ton of tax breaks in California and decided to take that money and run?”

The New York Post also weighed in on the situation, noting that "the decision by Musk to pull up stakes and leave the Bay Area was met with outrage from California lawmakers who reminded him that Tesla had received more than $3.2 billion worth of direct and indirect subsidies from Sacramento since 2009."

Musk -- who is currently embroiled in a legal battle over his potential purchase of social media platform, Twitter -- took no prisoners in his response, laying into state lawmakers, "California used to be the land of opportunity. Now it has become and is becoming more so the land of overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation and scorn.”

The SpaceX founder isn't alone in his feelings. Governor Gavin Newsom and various Assemblymembers recently came under fire for quietly raising the top California income tax bracket to 14.4%. 

The change comes as part of bill SB 951, which was primarily written to fund an expansion of the Golden State's paid family leave benefit. It removes the existing $145,600 wage cap on the state’s 1.1% employee payroll tax.

Right now, employees are eligible for a 60% to 70% wage replacement for up to eight weeks to care for a new baby or an ailing family member. As of 2025, the majority of California workers will be allowed to take home between 70% and 90% of their normal wages, with low-income families eligible for even more.

The marginal income tax bracket increase is, opponents say, dinging high earners -- people like Musk, for instance -- who will not see much, if any, benefit from the paid family leave expansion. 

What do you think about San Francisco's mayor blasting Elon Musk?

You Might Also Enjoy:

share this post
Search for matches...
Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

Recommended Professionals

In the face of economic uncertainty, TaxBuzz is the industry's most up-to-date tax information.

Join 60,000 who get our weekly newsletter. No spam.

Need help selecting a firm?

Use our specialized search engine and get matched to the best accounting and tax firm for your needs.

Related Posts

Latest Posts