Legislators push back against data center tax breaks

Legislators are pushing back against the friendly tax incentives many states offer to data center developers and operators, reported Saijel Kishan for Bloomberg.

Virginia’s state comptroller, Lewis McCabe, wrote in a report that Virginia forfeited an estimated $750 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2023 because of data center incentives.

In Georgia, the state legislature forwarded a bill this spring that would have halted tax breaks for two years. Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed the bill Tuesday, alluding to the disruption it would cause to investment plans.

Kishan quoted Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler saying, “It’s a money loser. All too often, lobbyists say tax credits are great and create a lot of jobs. But in reality, these data centers create few jobs.”

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