Remote work practices and policies made necessary by COVID-19 and embraced by employees and companies alike are taking a toll on Silicon Valley, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, December 13, noting that iconic Bay Area companies are moving to, and growing in, locales with lower costs and less congestion.
Database giant Oracle announced Friday, December 11, it was moving to Austin, Texas from Redwood City, California. And just weeks earlier, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced it was moving its headquarters to Houston, Texas from Silicon Valley.
Among the reasons for corporate relocations cited by the WSJ and San Jose Mercury News in articles about the moves are cost-of-living disparities and differences in personal income taxes.
According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, California has the highest marginal tax rate in the country for the highest-income taxpayers: 13.3% on income in excess of US$1 million. Texas has no income tax.
According to the Wall Street Journal, employers and employees alike have embraced the flexibility of remote-work policies after they became a necessity because of COVID-19.
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