To: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors
Elon Musk: Open-Source the Taxpayer Subsidies You Seek for Tesla “Gigafactory”
Tesla Motors is demanding at least $500 million in taxpayer subsidies, whipsawing AZ, CA, NV, NM and TX siting a huge battery factory.
If it's really confident that such massive subsidies are justified, Tesla should release the five states from non-disclosure agreements and allow taxpayers to see the files.
Elon Musk: open-source your subsidy-application files and let taxpayers weigh costs and benefits!
Why is this important?
***UPDATE: Tesla has announced it has accepted $1.25 billion in subsidies from the state of Nevada. Taxpayers are still in the dark about what negotiations took place & why the state arrived at a $1.25 billion subsidy package.***
Tesla Motors is staging a public auction, brazenly setting the opening bid at half a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies for its “Gigafactory.” But like Boeing's 22-state auction that will cost Washington taxpayers more than $8 billion, these "trophy deals" cause states to overspend.
Usually such auctions are secret, so taxpayers have no chance to demand disclosure. But taxpayers deserve better when ≥$500 million is at stake--especially from a company that prides itself for innovation and openness.
If one of the five states overspends, you know what the other four will want to do next time. We need sunshine-antiseptic! Elon Musk: open source your subsidy application files!