California’s ridiculous taxes, regulations, and high costs are driving away thousands of high paying jobs (and consequent tax revenues) as Toyota Motor Sales (USA) is poised to announce the moving of their headquarters from Torrance, CA to Plano, TX. (Full disclosure: Toyota was a major client of mine for a number of years, and I have made many trips to Torrance on their behalf).

Of course, the company is saying nothing about the regulatory and tax climate, and is instead saying they want to be closer to Toyota’s US manufacturing operations in Texas, Mississippi, and Kentucky. But even the mayor of Torrance isn’t fooled. The LA Times reports:

Frank Scotto, Torrance's mayor, said he had no warning of Toyota's decision. He said he did know that the automaker planned a corporate announcement for Monday.

"When any major corporation is courted by another state, it's very difficult to combat that," Scotto said. "We don't have the tools we need to keep major corporations here."

The mayor said businesses bear higher costs in California for workers' compensation and liability insurance, among other expenses.

"A company can easily see where it would benefit by relocating someplace else," Scotto said.

About 5,000 people work in the Torrance headquarters complex, where the company occupies about 2 million square feet of space. It is not clear how many of the jobs will move to Texas, but it is likely to be a substantial number.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

I was a regular visitor to Torrance in 2005 when Nissan moved its North American headquarters, less than a mile away from Toyota’s, to Tennessee. At the time, I heard reports that Californians were delighted at housing prices, if less enthusiastic about some other aspects of moving with the company.

Honda also has its American headquarters in the same neighborhood, which quite naturally has a number of Japanese restaurants and other service businesses. They will be facing a declining market.