8 Comments

California is run by smart people. They understand that if a resident of Ca is working in Ca, for a company that happens to be in another state, that employee is still employed in Ca and the employer SHOULD abide by Ca taxes and other requirements. Otherwise you simply have a race to the bottom. The race tot he bottom is what we already see when states fight over who is going to give the most financial incentives and tax concessions to corporations interested in doing business in those states. In the end states get fewer jobs than promised and less tax revenues than are beneficial. It's a scam. Don't blame Californians for being too smart for that nonsense.

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If you're takeaway from this article is that CA is run by smart people, you have an interesting notion of what smart is. Smart people will laugh at the notion of what they SHOULD do and will not do it. CA is losing revenue and that will not change.

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...they are already paying taxes in CA...?

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I am so sorry this happened to you. It goes the other way, too, where California residents who really could benefit from online work are now being blocked from this opportunity. I found this article because I desperately need part time work, supplemental income (ironically so that I can afford to continue living in California). And, because I have mobility issues and chronic pain, I applied for multiple online gigs figuring I'd get something because I have a lot of honed skills to offer. But NOBODY will hire me simply because I live in California1. That was a seriously rude awakening for me. It is not fair to people like you, or for people like me. It's sickening, actually, that this is even possible. I am very disheartened and share in your frustration.

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Thanks for the post. Sorry you had to pay for that lesson. I think it's pretty good advice to not associate with California in any way. It almost always ends in regret. There are plenty, plenty of great developers outside of California.

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Had this same experience with CA. My favorite was the letter that I got explaining that the Worker's compensation fund had a loss and that I needed to kick in to help cover it.

The $800 minimum cost of having a business in CA was unbelievable.

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Man you sure have weird taxes laws in the USA. In Mexico, unless you're a company with a physical office, company or so. You pay taxes to the national tax collector named SAT and you pay your taxes no matter the state you live in. At least that's for all small companies or individuals who have no office, or work direction. And even so... at the end the money still goes to the national collector. You should consider hiring latam people... lots of companies are doing that and we work remotely for around 50 k or less a year which is a lot in latam

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California is run by people that know they can get away with it, full stop.

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