Tesla is not leaving California, they're continuing to expand operations in Fremont. It's just that Tesla is now a worldwide company and Texas happens to be a more convenient location for the time being.
I was surprised though at how high property taxes are in Texas (relative to California where I have lived for some time). Also, toll roads.
It's almost like you got to pay for things somehow. ;-)
The cost of housing is so far down the ladder with regard to the Bay Area though that even with the higher property tax rates, it's still probably a money-saving move to head to Texas.
(The toll road thing is a crazy regressive tax though, IMHO.)
The old joke in California politics was that you had two parties: both wanted good roads, schools, etc. but only one was willing to pay taxes for them. I found that quite vivid growing up in the 80s and 90s where you could basically watch infrastructure falling apart because maintenance required things like bond issues.
Are you speaking of high in absolute dollars or percentage of home value? I'm comparing RE tax amounts between Fremont, CA and Austin and it seems like for similar house sizes, the absolute amount of RE taxes paid is way lower in Austin, but it's possible I'm misinterpreting things.
