As Paramount weighs whether to move significant operations out of California, some employees are privately saying: take us with you.
I’ve spoken with several current Paramount employees who say they would welcome a relocation to states such as Texas or Tennessee. Texas and Tennessee have no state income taxes.
The Paramount board of directors has approved a move to Texas or Tennesse, if the antitrust legal dispute spearheaded by California Attorney General Rob Bonta is not settled. Paramount has been in talks with a developer in Austin, Texas for new studio space.
The people I talked to were remarkably consistent with their reason to leave the Golden State: taxes, housing, crime and the cost of raising a family.
One employee told me, “I can save so much in taxes.”
Another said, “My kids want a backyard. I can get that in Texas or Tennessee.”
Others told me they could finally afford a house — one pointing to homes under $500,000 — or use the savings to buy a new car.
An employee said she’d finally splurge on a new car as she doesn’t feel she can own a nice one in Los Angeles because her car keeps getting broken into.
One employee said a brother who moved to Texas saves so much in taxes that “it’s like another salary.”
Another said the lower cost of living could allow his wife to quit working, adding they could put their son back into public school and redirect private-school tuition toward college. We will know more on the case September 15th. That is the new deadline. Federal Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson ordered Paramount and Bonta’s coalition of state attorneys general to agree on two consecutive dates in late October for an in-person settlement conference. The court docket says those dates must be submitted by close of business September 15.
