“Hell in Texas” has been a famous poem in folklore for more than one hundred years. No one knows who wrote it. Last week I had the distinct and revealing pleasure of traveling to the U.S.A., Western Texas, from my home of more than seventy years–Gavin Newsom’s Commifornia. I spent the week with my youngest son driving over seven hundred miles in the environs of Austin and San Antonio. I submit that it is not Texas that is the hell, but California.
Everywhere we went in and around Southwestern Texas prosperity, growth, expansion and happiness bloomed alongside the beautiful, ubiquitous wildflowers in all the fields, roadsides, and parks.
Throughout Austin and San Antonio, construction of new commercial high-rises, industrial complexes, sprawling shopping centers, and inter and intra-state highways is booming. Add to that single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments being built in astonishing numbers.
In contrast, the housing market in California is contracting and is depressing. Complaints of a lack of affordable housing and see-through high-rise buildings plague Southern California cities and towns. Los Angeles, according to CommercialEdge April 2024, is ranked 19th of major metro areas in the number of commercial buildings in construction compared to Austin listed 4th. Sure Austin, like most big cities, has office vacancies, but it is obvious from driving along Highway 35 that there are over a dozen significant high-rises under rapid construction. Signifying a strong optimism in the booming Texas economy.
As the highly proactive Texas governor, Greg Abbot recently stated:
Texas dominates because of hardworking Texans and endless possibilities for success across our great state. Corporate executives and business leaders across the nation continue to choose Texas because they know that the freedom and opportunity our state has to offer cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Companies are coming to Texas in droves because we offer attractive, pro-growth policies where businesses – and people – can thrive.
With no state income tax, a reasonable regulatory environment, and a young, skilled, and growing workforce, Texas is at the helm of innovation and economic prosperity. Texas has, indeed, the No. 1 business climate in the nation.
By the way, there were a half dozen pro-Hamas demonstrators on a Highway 35 overpass in downtown Austin one day waving a single Palestinian flag and in reply got multiple horn-honking responses along with the international sign of recognition!
Residential vacancy in Austin is twice that of California with home and rental prices appreciably lower…on average 16% lower.
There are fewer restrictive governmental regulations strangling business, entrepreneurs, and construction in Texas than California.
Since 2005, more than half the companies leaving California have moved to Texas. Over 18,000 firms left California, bringing 179,000 jobs to Texas. The Fortune 500 companies leading the exodus have chosen Texas over any other state. These corporations include Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Charles Schwab, and Oracle. Other major firms moving to Texas from California include Tesla, SpaceX, CBRE, and Toyota with more companies following each month.
What I saw during my visit was, first, uniformly $2.00 low gas prices. Auto registration is 40% less on average than that of California. Food, in a wide variety of excellent and extensive markets and restaurants, is 10% to 20% cheaper than their California counterparts. Homes are, on average, 36% less expensive than in California, especially in corresponding urban markets.
California has an average personal income tax of 11% and some pay up to 13%…Texas is zero. Sales tax in the Austin area is about 6.5% compared to 10.55% in Los Angeles County. Sure property taxes are somewhat higher, as are some utility costs, but overall the tax burden is considerably less for Texans and Texas-based businesses.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is large, clean, efficient, well-marked for vehicle and foot traffic, and has a wide variety of reasonably priced restaurants. LAX in comparison is dirty, dingy, extraordinarily congested, poorly marked, has very few terminal restaurants and is grossly inefficient. At LAX, I checked into one airline terminal and was told to go three terminals away to catch my flight. In Austin, my check-in was easy and seamless.
In all, Texas beats the boots off California as an environment for a productive, safe, affordable, and enjoyable business climate and life in general. As Colonel David Crockett stated when he chose to leave Tennessee for Texas and his immortality fighting for that republic at the Alamo, “You all can go to hell…I am going to Texas!”