More than a decade ago, Ohio lawmakers exempted tech companies from paying sales tax on the computer servers and equipment that fill data centers. That break has since ballooned into one of the state’s most expensive. Now, Ohio joins a parade of states rethinking the sweetheart deals they gave Silicon Valley giants.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the exemption cost Ohio more than $1.5 billion last year, over 10 times what state officials originally estimated. The scale of it became public after the news outlet Signal Ohio reported on it, and voters were angry enough that Gov. Mike DeWine (R) paused new applications in May.
Democratic state Rep. Tristan Rader, who represents parts of Cleveland, wants to go further. He is pushing to repeal the sales-tax exemption entirely and renegotiate past deals with companies including Amazon, Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google. He also wants new data-center taxes and rules that would force developers to pay more toward power and electrical infrastructure.
“They seem to have more money than God and they’re able to build without the need for these types of incentives,” Rader said.