Analysts: Nevada overstating Tesla’s economic benefits
By Chris Kirkham, Los Angeles Times
When Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval announced a $1.3-billion package of public subsidies to lure a Tesla Motors battery factory, he stressed that the huge sum would be dwarfed by an economic windfall for local residents.
The electric car maker will create $100 billion in economic benefits, he said, and “change Nevada forever.”
“Even the most skeptical economist would conclude that this is a strong return for us,” Sandoval said during a news conference this month with Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk.
Economists who reviewed Nevada’s economic benefit estimates for the Los Angeles Times concluded something quite different. They pointed to flawed assumptions and inflated projections in the state’s promises of job creation, tax revenue and overall spending created by the $5-billion lithium-ion battery facility.
The projection, for instance, counts all future tax revenue, but makes no allowance for government spending to serve the influx of residents. It counts every dollar of workers’ salaries as if they were unemployed or lived out of state before Tesla arrived. And more than half of the estimated economic jolt relies on the assumption that the bulk of the factory’s supply chain will relocate to Nevada.
Tesla plans to hire 6,500 workers, and the estimate counts a projected 16,000 additional jobs from suppliers and other local business to serve the new workforce.
And don’t forget the economic impact for the bordellos and hookers as was pointed out to the Tesla people during their umm “personal” fly over by Lance Gilman… wild “mustangs” indeed.
What a surprise. More fuzzy green math.
You call a battery factory ‘green’? The only green here is the color of money.
Tesla’s promised 8-year 10 to 30 percent discount on electricity by NV Energy is being paid for by increased electric rates for its other customers. Interesting tradeoff.
In the case of the Tesla subsidies, Jerry Brown observed that Nevada’s tax breaks are California’s benefit, that will help cut the cost of a new Tesla by half, to $35,000.
The batteries go into green electric cars.
Um Sunriser. “Green math?” The article is taking about Nevada making the miscalculations of the economic benefit to the State, not Tesla. If Nevada is willing to sponsor Tesla employees to the tune of about 200k each, I don’t blame Tesla for taking the offer.