Apple Texas Expansion Vote Ping!
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Posted on 12/18/2018 9:27:27 AM PST by bgill
Williamson County commissioners are set to vote Tuesday on an incentive deal that would pay back 65 percent of property taxes to Apple over 15 years so that the tech giant could expand its operations in north Austin. Apple announced Thursday that it would spend $1 billion to build a second campus in Austin and create 5,000 new jobs. The proposed site for the 133-acre building is located on the Williamson County side of the city on an undeveloped property near Parmer Lane and McNeil Road. According to the proposed contract shared by Williamson County Friday, the incentive deal would begin when Apple hires 700 people and would last for the next 15 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxan.com ...
Housing can't keep up with the regular growth so housing costs are outrageous. Property taxes are out of this world. I'm paying nearly 4 months of income just on property taxes and now Apple get a break on their taxes so guess who gets to foot their bill.
There are 14 schools that are closing because they don't have enough tax funding to keep them open or do repairs. Class size has already gone up to accommodate this. AISD is already in discussions to lay off teachers and staff.
Corporate welfare. Taking peoples’ money to bribe a company to stay in the area and give jobs.
Not at all cost-effective. Those who don’t get the free money pay higher taxes. This is unequal treatment, and is illegal and unconstitutional.
Many ex Californians are relocating to Sun City in Georgetown, a retirement community in Williamson County.
Once the most Red county in the state of Texas had a majority vote for the fake Mexican Beto.
the California cancer spreads.
I live in Sun City. Dems are on the increase, if the number of Beto signs is any indication. But there are even more Dems down in Round Rock.
A couple years ago, Round Rock also had to lay off teachers and staff due to funding. A relative was this close to losing her counselor job.
Companies shouldn’t be given tax breaks. The little man gets to foot their bills.
The blue disease is spreading.
A few years back the local news in Austin ran a story about a woman who was having to sell her house because she could not afford the property tax. She couldn’t understand why her property tax was so high. They asked how she voted, she said Democrat and voted YES for every bond issue when it came to schools and such. But she just didn’t see the relationship between bond issues and property tax....makes one wonder if maybe there should be some sort of test to be able to vote.
They same thing will happen here, tax rebates(refunds) to Apple, the need for infrastructure improvements and new bond issues. Same cirle jerk as always.
I’m not sure Wilco even needed to sweeten the deal. I think Apple would have built regardless.
3M got a 25 year deal on taxes from Austin and when it was over, they moved out.
The fact that Wilco will get 35% of the property taxes is better than what they get from that same property now. Plus 4000 jobs would be nice if it’s locals.
But you are right about the transportation issues. I use Parmer a lot and it will be a mess.
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Make that County Commissioners not city council. Sorry about that. My oops.
We’ve been on the verge of having to sell our home due to taxes. Every year it’s scary tight, tight, tight. Every dime goes to taxes. Maintenance is out the door. Vacations or just date night is also out the door. The grocery budget is $5 per day per person (have had many discussions on FR about this) and I’m down to sewing my clothes from thrift store fabrics. We need to stay for our elderly relatives. Taxes have gone up 10% every year. Who’s pay goes up that rapidly? Back when, taxes were only 2 weeks of income so very manageable.
A few years ago, half the houses on our street were on the market because long time residents couldn’t afford to pay the tax bill. Next door neighbors have family here so their only option was to continue working past when they were to retire. A few others are in the same boat.
This is a GOP county but it’s changing with CA imports and being close to Austin.
I was in the same boat in Houston 20 years ago. My property taxes went up about 10% per year. Got out of Harris county and life was much better.
Texas will be “blue” within a few election cycles. There really isn’t anything Texas can do. California went from Ronald Reagan to Hell within a generation. The typical liberal will ruin a state and move on as the Californian exodus has polluted once conservative reliable states. This goes for the scum from NY and NJ that are ruining the South.
Yes, you are correct.
That is ONE thing that California got right. The 1978 Prop 13 set property taxes at 1% of the sale price and limited annual increases to inflation or 2% whichever is higher.
The libs have been fighting to overturn 13 or chip away at ever since the day it passed.
Somehow our counties manage to survive, pave the roads, operate the schools, provide police and fire protection services.
Tax breaks to private companies seem unconstitutional, they are inherently unfair to other private companies, especially any competition. Why do the courts allow it? Should be challenged. Government can bribe I guess and it’s legal.
I don't know. I think it has something to do with the county only getting $78 a year for the property now, versus $7.2 million a year from Apple. Maybe the county could use the money instead of staring at an empty lot.
You can call it a "bribe" but it's actually an incentive. My daughter and her husband bought a home in a redevelopment district in a major city. The neighborhood was a wreck, and the city wasn't getting much of anything from property taxes due to abandoned homes. They offered an incentive to prospective buyers of a 10-year tax break. No property taxes for ten years.
Daughter and her husband bought a derelict building for $80,000 and set to work fixing it up. So did many other buyers. A few years later and the neighborhood has gone upscale, with homes going for five times what they cost. Daughter's home is a desired mansion now. The city is going to see a positive cash flow in taxes where there was none prior to the incentives. Incentives work.
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