Tesla Rolling onto Rollins Rd.

The topic of Tesla moving its Norcal sales and service center to Edwards CT off Rollins Rd. came up at the joint Planning Commission-City Council meeting a few weeks ago, but with all the hubbub about historic properties, I forgot to post about the Tesla tax dispute.  The Daily Journal piece covered it in advance of Monday's Planning meeting about the permit.  The issue is

Burlingame’s position is it should get tax revenue since the sales take place in its city, said Meeker. On the other hand, Tesla’s model has been to pay the tax to wherever the car is delivered, Mefford wrote in a January letter to the city. For example, if a San Mateo resident orders a car and, once completed, the car is delivered to his or her home, then that city would get the sales tax. One of the conditions of the permit’s approval, as suggested by staff, is that Burlingame would get the tax revenue from sales from this site.

I'm not sure the taxation part of this is a Planning issue, but they have to start somewhere.  I also don't see any easy way to "split the baby" on this nor is state law likely to be very clear.  One this is clear.  If you want high-performance electic wheels, Tesla is the way to go because Fisker laid off 150 of its last 200 employees last week.  They are apparently going down with $190 million of our taxpayer dollars.  So this could be real money.  As one local auto veteran says, "bring yer wife and yer pink slip to Burlingame"!

I have seen both cars on the streets of B'game.  Here is a Fisker on Park Ave.

and the Tesla

Comments

[pat giorni]

Here is the email I sent this morning to some community movers and shakers:

I am crawling out of the crypt to make a rare appearance at Planning Comission tonight and suggest you do too because the business model in Tesla's application sets the City up as a showroom for it's product but does not allow us to garner full sales tax benefit.

If the Edwards Ct location is to be the only showroom, then I am proposing that all Bay Area sales be attributed to Burlingame as point of origin, regardless of where delivery takes place.

I'd like to see Putnam and Harvey there also, if one of you has email or other contact for them. Our Auto Row has a lot of cache and our dealers have made great contribution to our City. Allowing Tesla to operate by not contributing full sales tax undercuts and undermines the good faith and trust of our existing auto dealers.

I do think a showing of concerned taxpayer citizens testimony would demonstrate that this is not just a dealer issue. The model is akin to trying out tv sets at Video Only and then buying from Amazon.

Plus our proximity to SFO leaves deep pocketed buyers oportunity of flying in personal jets for a 10 minute drive to showroom for test drive and then returning to Podunk to order off-site and take delivery out of town!"

http://www.burlingame.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10116 Agenda

https://www.burlingame.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10073 Staff Packet

I am back from the meeting and perhaps the Gods are beneficent after all since it was announced at tonight's PC meeting that the item is postponed until April 22. Perhaps the Tesla folks having discovered that doing business in B'game ain't a free ride have repented. Giving the cream to others while leaving us with skimmed milk just don't cut the cheese.

[alittlebird]

Oh how I wish you would run for city council Pat Giorni! You are amazing.

[pat giorni]

Darlin'

I won't even run for a bus; there's always another one coming along...

[Anne]

I love Pat.

[pat giorni]

Anyone wishing to speak to the issue should get to PC tonight at 7 because the item is at the top of the agenda.

[Joe]

Good reminder. I added a photo of the local Tesla that I see downtown all the time. At a minimum, shouldn't we get the sales tax from Hillsborough as well since they have no commercial district?

[pat giorni]

Welcome to Town, Tesla. And thanks for the sales tax!

[hillsider]

It seems to me that Tesla should spend more effort building and selling good cars and less time trying to change tax laws=

Officials in Virginia have denied a request by Tesla Motors to operate its own dealership at a mall in the state.

The Mercury News reports Tesla was seeking an exception to a Virginia law requiring car manufacturers to sell through dealers.

Tesla will be able to appeal the Department of Motor Vehicles ruling on the case.

The company is also trying to get approval to operate its own showrooms in other states.

[fred]

Burlingame may have shot itself in the foot allowing this company to come in outside the franchise system. They may end up contributing to the end of the dealer system that has helped support Burlingame for almost a century. Heavy emphasis on the "may".

[hillsider]

I tend to agree with you and it is also just shabby treatment in general. What can be done about it inside the rules of the state?

[fred]

Alea iacta est.

[hillsider]

fortuna vitrea est: tum cum splendet frangitur

[fred]

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito.

[pat giorni]

Semper ubi sub ubi.

[fred]

Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?

[alittlebird]

Merda taurorum animas conturbit.

[fred]

Auicularum cantet dulcia cantica. Usitas.

[Francis]

Does anyone know how these cars get away without having front license plates? I've never seen a Tesla with a front plate. Is is some electric exception?

[Joe]

Here is an interesting blurb from today's news:

Nasdaq OMX Group said Tesla Motors will replace Oracle on the Nasdaq 100 stock index, reflecting the rising profile of the U.S. electric car maker.

(Oracle is moving to the New York Stock Exchange, hence the need for a replacement). Tesla's unit growth and backlog look good. I'm still not clear on how the sales tax question will work out for B'game, tho.

[Joe]

This is an interesting twist--even a Republican feels like one buyer going electric is less deserving than another buyer going electric!:

California's incentives to purchase electric vehicles are under attack, as data shows most of the money goes to consumers who earn twice the national average yet collect cash rebates on Tesla Motors luxury models.

"It's hard for the average Californian to understand why someone buying a $100,000 car should get a rebate," said California state Senator Ted Gaines, a Republican from Rocklin who has proposed eliminating rebates on cars that cost more than $40,000. "That's the same question I posed to myself, and it was hard to justify."

With almost a fifth of California payments applied to Tesla vehicles priced higher than $71,000, its regulators also are drafting rules to ration incentives based on income. While the state accounts for 40 percent of the U.S. plug-in market and has doled out more incentive cash than any other, such rebates are being scrutinized from Washington to Georgia.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27837137/california-could-rein-tesla-rebates-that-mostly-go

[Bruce Dickinson]

Joe, Joe, Joe, are you in the construction biz? The reason why I ask is that every time you get a hammer in your hands, you seem to have an uncanny ability to hit the nail on the head every single time!

I may have told you guys this before, but I made the mistake of buying a Tesla, which I had for two months before I disposed of it. So I am speaking as prior owner and a car guy, if you can call someone who owns several Ferraris and Porsches such a thing. Anyway, it has a lot of cool technology, is ultra quiet, very comfortable and what not, but you know what? It's extremely boring and a complete ploy by Mr. Musk to capitalize on this concept of "guilt" about the environment that a lot of highly educated liberals seem to have, but guilt that is insufficient to overcome their own selfish desires to own something that is expensive and can "go fast", and judging by some of the driving and attitudes of Tesla drivers, "selfish" is an apt word to describe most in this group.

Most believe that the Tesla is an extremely fast car, with its new "insane mode" and the like, which is somewhat true. Yes it is fast, but weighs too much, so it handles like a boat. And by "fast" meaning that you get instant torque at a stop light with all wheel drive. In a drag race, my Ferrari 599 would probably lose because I'm burning so much tire with rear wheel drive. However, at speed, I gun it and that Tesla is in my rear view mirror as much as a Hyundai is; AWD and a launch control ain't gonna help you my friend. Then you bring it to the hills compared to a real sports car or sports sedan, and the Tesla is nowhere as nimble and quick on its feet. It's actually not really a great drivers car. There's no engine or exhaust note, so the adrenalin rush is pretty much on par with being in an elevator, that is to say, there really isn't much of any.

Then you have the "I'm saving the Environment while going fast" attitude. Really? Lithium, Nickel-Cadmium, Magnesium, all grow on trees, right? Wrong, those are what are called rare-earth metals and it takes a lot of fossil fuels to dig, mine, lift, and ship these heavy metals in quantities halfway around the world. You calculate the all-in environmental cost of all this, and you are substituting environmental quality in the Bay area and enjoying the finer things in life, while pooping on someone else's toilet by polluting their environment in some third world or communist country, where these rare earth metals are mined. Sorry, but that, in Bruce Dickinson's mind, doesn't qualify for a rebate on a $100,000 car, or in other words, restrictions apply.

See, at least with a Ferrari or Porsche, it's not this bait-and-switch stealthy "I appear to be saving the environment, but I'm really not, and I can still drive fast in Insane Mode" attitude. It's what you see (a high fossil fuel use vehicle) is what you get. No shell games, no subsidies, no passive-aggressive "middle finger" to the third world or other drivers on the road. Trust me guys, if you're shelling out 100k on a car, you are not worried about the cost of gas, and you'll get 10x the amount of enjoyment in a Porsche over a Tesla. So there you have it folks, buy a Porsche instead of a Tesla, you will thank me for that one. You can take that recommendation right to the bank!

[Joe]

I am reminded of this vintage post by an article in the WSJ today. Two guys were letting their Tesla "Autopilot" feature drive them around yesterday. Apparently one was in the passenger seat and the other in the back seat, i.e. nobody had their hands on the wheel like they are supposed to do. Big crash into a tree on a curve.

But here is the newsy part of this: it took 32,000 gallons of water to put out the fire as the battery continued to burn......that is about a 20 x 30' swimming pool full of water!

[Paloma Ave]

At least the two passengers, with no driver, are out of the gene pool.