Toyota spurns California for Texas — here’s why

Although Toyota is playing it coy for the reasons behind the move of its national headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas, you don’t have to be an economist to know why.

Yes, Texas promised Toyota about $40 million to make the move. But the underlying factors were far more important.

Texas is a right to work state, making unionization tougher, Texas has no state income tax (California is at 13+ percent), energy prices are lower (California’s green energy policies drive the state’s prices sky-high) and gasoline prices at the pump are more than a half a dollar less.

This is a lesson for all states looking to become more competitive to new businesses — be more like Texas and less like California.