High Taxes Drive Prius Plant From SF Bay Area

California faces a $15 billion budget deficit and Democrats who rule the state Legislature have proposed closing the gap with a $9.7 billion tax hike on business and "the rich." -WSJ

According to the journal, the high cost of doing business in California is driving AAA call centers, along with 900 employees out of the state. But, in the ever so environmentally sensitive SF Bay Area of California, a plan to actually employ Californians to build the hybrid cars they love has hit a speed bump!

Speculation that Toyota Motor Corp. might build Prius hybrids in the Bay Area appeared to unravel Thursday when the company announced plans to start Prius production at a Toyota plant already under construction in Mississippi. -SF Gate

Or, as the Journal puts it:

Then last week Toyota announced it is canceling plans to build its new Prius hybrid at its plant in the San Francisco Bay area because of the high tax and regulatory costs. Adding to the humiliation is that Toyota will now take this investment and about 1,000 jobs to a more progressive and pro-business state: Mississippi.

The SF Gate article points out that more than 26% of hybrid cars are registered in California. The Fremont plant would be a perfect fit, except for those pesky high taxes and the obscenely high cost of burdensome regulations!

To the geniuses in Sacramento: Chasing every employer and everyone with a large income out of the state is not a good business model! Democrats say we can't "drill our way" to oil independency. In Sacramento, their idea of filling the barrel is to open the petcock at the bottom of the barrel and see how much their policies suck!

Cross Posted at Say Anything