- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Data center tax abatements losing states billions
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:02 pm
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:02 pm
Shoooocking.
Why isn't Louisiana listed? Probably because it doesn't report the losses anywhere.
quote:
In a new report, "Data Center Tax Abatements: Why States and Localities Must Disclose These Soaring Revenue Losses," it names 14 states that are failing to disclose their tax shortfall due to server farms, and claims scores of local authorities are doing the same.
Only three states – Washington State, Texas, and Virginia – properly disclose these losses in their Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs). Instead, many states report the losses in Tax Expenditure Reports (TERs).
quote:
Three states are losing $1 billion or more per year, the report finds. Georgia stands at $2.5 billion, Virginia at $1.94 billion, and Texas at $1 billion.
Why isn't Louisiana listed? Probably because it doesn't report the losses anywhere.
quote:
Louisiana claims it cannot estimate data center revenue losses despite a history of deal-specific disclosure for its state-controlled
Industrial Tax Exemption Program and its Quality Jobs and Enterprise Zone programs.8
quote:
From a cost-benefit point of view, the three states that have measured their data center ROIs have found they lose 52 to 91 cents on the dollar.[9] In Virginia, the sales and use tax exemption for data centers — which is uncapped by project or company — consumed 81.3% of the state’s entire economic development incentives budget in FY 2024[10]and that share grew substantially in FY2025
8
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:15 pm to LemmyLives
Are they saying they are losing revenue because we grant tax breaks to data centers or that we are actively spending money?
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:19 pm to SFCSaint77
quote:
Are they saying they are losing revenue because we grant tax breaks to data centers or that we are actively spending money?
They have to be spinning the numbers pretty bad like looking at the income without tax breaks and with. It is hard to figure out how a $10 billion investment loses more money than an empty corn field...
Where is the actual loss?
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:23 pm to SFCSaint77
It appears to be passive loss, but it can depend on the state and locality. Combine those awful losses with the water and power impact (cost) for non data center users, and it's nearly no use to the populace to "lure" the data centers into their locality. Once a data center is built and "filled" there are not thousands of direct jobs associated with it, even if the data center is the size of Manhattan.
This is Enron level shite out of Illinois:
ETA: The full report.
This is Enron level shite out of Illinois:
quote:
Alarmingly,
its 2020 version of that report said the state lost only $10.4 million, but the first iteration of the FY 2023 report put the cost at $465.3 million,an extremely steep loss-trend curve of more than 4,300%. An updated version of that FY 2023 report, without explanation, omits the annual revenue-loss estimate
ETA: The full report.
This post was edited on 4/18/26 at 7:25 pm
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:34 pm to GetmorewithLes
They simply want to raise your taxes!!
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:37 pm to LemmyLives
Must have been using the same accountant as Omar and her Brother-Husband.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:38 pm to Timeoday
quote:
They simply want to raise your taxes!!
This x1000.
Governments not collecting money because of tax breaks is like losing money to them. No, they aren’t really losing money. Just the potential. It’s BS.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:00 pm to LemmyLives
There are a couple of posters who have vehemently argued that this is not possible.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:44 pm to LemmyLives
quote:How much will the state collect if the DCs don’t get built?
Data center tax abatements losing states billions
This post was edited on 4/18/26 at 8:45 pm
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:47 pm to LemmyLives
Most of the time when government says they lose money, it means they didn’t steal all of the money from the citizenry it intended.
You can’t lose what was never yours.
You can’t lose what was never yours.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:54 pm to Taxing Authority
quote:
How much will the state collect if the DCs don’t get built?
Well, multiple states agree to forgo sales and use taxes, so ...? Are they paying sales taxes on the concrete, the wiring, the plumbing that needs to be installed even during the initial build? They won't be paying sales taxes on coffee they buy for the people that actually show up day to day.
As I've said repeatedly (ironic username, btw,) you're going to have part time contractors doing electrical, HVAC, etc., and a *couple* of people per thousand physical servers to do rack and stack and component replacement. Everything else will be done remotely, from at least out of state, and likely out of the country. You can't scream "foreigners can't work with regulated data, not true" because they don't need access to data to do maintenance from Hyderabad (or, DFW for JPMC employees that aren't citizens.)
I'll quote this again:
quote:
From a cost-benefit point of view, the three states that have measured their data center ROIs have found they lose 52 to 91 cents on the dollar. In Virginia, the sales and use tax exemption for data centers — which is uncapped by project or company — consumed 81.3% of the state’s entire economic development incentives budget in FY 2024 and that share grew substantially in FY2025.
That's three states that accurately and transparently report data. So it's a massive loss when they get built.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:09 pm to GetmorewithLes
quote:
Where is the actual loss?
I’m of the opinion that the companies damage infrastructure, use police and fire services, and employees send their kids to the schools that those property taxes are voted on to support. They’re using resources they aren’t paying for.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:19 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
Well, multiple states agree to forgo sales and use taxes, so ...? Are they paying sales taxes on the concrete, the wiring, the plumbing that needs to be installed even during the initial build?
Many times it appears that they will not be paying sales tax on the material used to build the data center.
But the $20,000,000 that the HVAC contractor makes on the job is taxable as revenue.
And the $5,000,000 he paid to his laborers is money that they will be paying state taxes on.
I don’t like the idea of giving away the farm on the front end of these projects, but that’s the climate that we’re operating in.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:35 pm to LemmyLives
quote:do they report how many locals got jobs, instead of imported workers??
Data center tax abatements losing states billions
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:43 pm to Gee Grenouille
quote:
I’m of the opinion that the companies damage infrastructure, use police and fire services, and employees send their kids to the schools that those property taxes are voted on to support. They’re using resources they aren’t paying for.
The breaks are not for ever. When Riverbend nuclear power plant exemptions expired West Feliciana Parish could barely spend all the money. New schools, new govt buildings, new police cars and fire trucks… Now with a data center coming in they are looking at rebating property taxes.
Finding it hard to see the freeloading.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 10:25 pm to UptownJoeBrown
quote:
This x1000. Governments not collecting money because of tax breaks is like losing money to them. No, they aren’t really losing money. Just the potential. It’s BS.
You could think of it another way, if the data center is never built would they have even realized an increase in tax revenue anyway.
Yes there is loss on future or potential taxes but is temporary and some companies will reinvest and add to their facilities to extend them.
Some of these tax rebates are in lieu of investments. Think of the other billions in revenue these projects are delivering in increased sales tax and income tax from new workers working on the project. All that revenue would not materialize if the project was never built.
This post was edited on 4/18/26 at 10:28 pm
Posted on 4/18/26 at 10:29 pm to GetmorewithLes
quote:
The breaks are not for ever. When Riverbend nuclear power plant exemptions expired West Feliciana Parish could barely spend all the money. New schools, new govt buildings, new police cars and fire trucks… Now with a data center coming in they are looking at rebating property taxes. Finding it hard to see the freeloading.
For the paper mill in Bogalusa they seem to be forever.
Posted on 4/19/26 at 3:47 am to Gee Grenouille
quote:
use police and fire services,
Like every other company? And these services are still being used in the area where actual people are, right? A company isn't setting up shop and then sending police and firemen out of state, right? If a company needs these services, it's for people that live in the area.
Should we tell these people that if they need police, fire, or emergency services that they are just out of luck? We'll send an ambulance after they clock out and go home?
quote:
employees send their kids to the schools that those property taxes are voted on to support
Those employees still pay property taxes for the schools their kids use, I assume.
quote:
They’re using resources they aren’t paying for
And it's really blown out of proportion.
If my company offers overtime and I don't take it, did I lose money? No, I didn't. Just like the government didn't lose tax money that they would never have received had the company never moved in.
It's shady accounting and dishonesty to make it look worse than it is.
Posted on 4/19/26 at 5:07 am to LemmyLives
quote:That is a horrible article. Was it written by AOC? Goodness!
Shoooocking.
Foregone tax revenue d/t tax breaks and/or incentives is not "losing" states a dime. It is bringing in less revenue than would be the case if the institutions were fully taxed. ............ BUT .............. if they were fully taxed, THE CENTERS WOULD NOT BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Here is what ""Losing States Billions" actually looks like ...
What Georgia's data centers actually generated in fiscal year 2025:
Georgia's "foregone revenue" from data center tax breaks was $472 million. So the OP authors would characterize that as "losing state money" to the tune of nearly $500M.
HOWEVER ...
Data centers concomitantly created 28,350 construction-related jobs adding $3.4 billion to the state economy, plus 5,471 operations jobs contributing another $823 million. The centers also dramatically increased property values, adding ~ $1.8 billion to assessed value, with buildings adding at least $450 million more, yielding an average of nearly $28 million in annual property tax per project. LINK
So for Georgia specifically, the math looks roughly like this: the state gives up ~$472 million in sales tax exemptions, but gets back $4.2+ billion in economic activity, thousands of jobs, and swelling local property tax rolls funding schools and infrastructure.
$4.2B is 11% of GA's 2025 budget!
That is 11% GA would not have if the Data Centers went elsewhere.
So, given the AOC-Amazon accounting premise ... i.e., "no tax breaks for 'rich' corporations," GA would have no Data Centers, and overall state revenue would be $34.75B instead of $39B.
This post was edited on 4/19/26 at 5:08 am
Posted on 4/19/26 at 5:22 am to LemmyLives
quote:It's not a "loss" at all!
It appears to be passive loss
It's like a person selling a home they originally bought for $1M.
They put it on the market for $2M.
After negotiations with the buyer, they sell it for $1.8M + $100K in realtor costs and repairs, or a $700K profit.
The OP would carry the screaming headline "Home Owner Loses $300,000 in Sale of Home!"
This post was edited on 4/19/26 at 5:24 am
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News