Tesla Motors to Receive $39 Million in Sales Tax Incentives

The electric car maker Tesla Motors owned by Elon Musk will be getting a sales tax incentive of $39 million, California State Treasurer John Chiang announced on Tuesday. Tesla in the previous year received over $89 million in incentives from the program for projects over the last six years.

These tax incentives benefit advanced manufacturing and companies that are associated with altering of energy. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, run by Elon Musk was also awarded an estimated $30.3 million from the initiative earlier this year.

As per the program, qualified companies are expelled from paying sales and they can use taxes for purchase of certain equipment for up to three years. Both the companies of Musk i.e. SpaceX and Tesla were so far the largest beneficiaries of the program, which awards up to $100 million each year.

Tesla applied for the most recent sales tax exclusion based on over $463 million worth of expected purchases which was linked to the expansion of its Model S and Model X.

Deana Carrillo, executive director of the economic development agency chaired by Chiang said in a statement that the program is specifically designed to retain and expand the pool of high-paying jobs in advanced California industries.

Carrillo, said, “We're the last dollar in. These guys have got to get their financing together, make their decision, buy their property, get ready to buy the equipment, and then we're giving them a benefit at the margin”.