For the umpteenth time, data centers don't even pay much local tax! I've followed this closely in GA, now the epicenter of data center growth. Most counties concede the local tax argument before it even starts, by granting the massive data centers a payment in lieu of tax deal. Meta Stanton Springs is one of the earliest to be developed. Their PILOT caps the property tax at $5M a year - this for a multi-billion hyperscaler that would owe some $40M a year without that crazy break.
Fulton County GA grants 50% off property tax in year 1, tapering down to 5% off in year 10. That would leave data centers paying real money even in year 1. Except the county assessors appraise new data centers at less than 10% of their value. I'm pressuring local officials for this to be reformed. But for now, data centers are NOT paying significant amounts of tax in the biggest growth region of the country - and I'll bet they're not contributing much anywhere. Find me an actual tax bill that's in the tens of millions and make my day!
In some cases data centers don't pay any taxes they get tax breaks and even maybe get grants of taxpayer money! I heard that in Wisconsin, almost everything to do with data centers is tax exempt. https://chloehumbert.substack.com/p/dont-believe-data-center-hype
Pennsylvania here, we're sick of it, and now "AI Strike Team", an industry coalition outfit, is openly celebrating the conflicts of interest with the wife of Pennsylvania US Senator Dave McCormick being named president at Meta.. as a cozy biz win for their industry. Meta is taking over a nuclear plant outside Pittsburgh... AI Strike Team also hired Governor Josh Shapiro's son. So the corruption is complete. I saw a quote from someone in the state who summed it up sort of like this that there is polarization on the issue, all the politicians of both parties seem to be for it, and all their constituents of both parties are against it.
Philly here. I was considering petitioning Shapiro on this issue, and then I read your comments about his son. WTF. Folks who actually understand the issues will vote NO for a data center in their communities. Do you know of any groups in PA that are actively organizing against data centers in the Commonwealth? Maron
Yes I will email you about organizing groups and networks. And yes, I've written on my substack repeatedly about Josh Shapiro's missteps in this area (and others).
also...
IT IS IMPERATIVE TO PRESSURE JOSH SHAPIRO ON DATA CENTERS.
Just want that to be clear that these jackaloons in public office want you to think there's no point in bothering them and give up. Don't let them. Even if you think they don't care, they don't deserve to be left alone to do whatever they want.
Atlanta paper today puts up a he-said she-said bothsides thing on whether data centers really pay much property tax in GA, i.e. the tens of millions each that they would be if appraised properly at the capex value. If you read between the lines, the answer is that they don't, of course. I'm quoted extensively but ineffectively. https://www.ajc.com/business/2026/01/data-centers-promise-tax-gains-for-georgia-but-are-they-delivering/
What was not mentioned in the article, these Data Centers also use water for total loss cooling. There are small cities near me facing shallow well drinking water shortage after these startups.
We in central TX already deal with water rationing due to a years long drought. But thousands of new rooftops are routinely approved and the onslaught of data center deals will ramp up soon enough. Our state level power regulators have begun the process of laying costs on existing customers/ratepayers to reduce the costs of long line power transmission build outs as well. Once more into the breach.
Three missing elements in the "data center cult" controversy: the exploding cost and lack of availability of silver, the heat generation by the average 50MW data center: 4.1 billion BTUs per day, and there are already 5,400 in the US, so, hello global heating--21 trillion BTUs per day in the US with projected doubling in 4 yrs, 2030, so 42 trillion BTUs perday. And what about the water consumption? 300 k - 5 M gallons per day per data center, same as small cities. If there ever was a boondoggle, this is it. And all to ELIMINATE JOBS! Brain rot from increasing dependency on electronica and the associated "lazy brain" issue (I just made that one up!). Have a blessed evening and start working on the resume'.
Data centers do impose real energy, water, and land-use costs - especially when growth is rushed and opaque.
The deeper issue may not be whether we need data centers, but how they’re designed: modular, energy-aware, transparent in resource usage, and built to minimize external strain.
Infrastructure architecture matters as much as policy.
Can you explain more? I’m a liberal writer! It’s just a fact that the neoliberal movement has a large share of blame for the policy choices I described that gutted a healthy portion of the country.
Yes, many people embrace what capital extraction is doing to our colonized colonies and our country. a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending. The Chicago boys in Chile Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) , Argentina. We are all Palestinian now.
'm a progressive, and I loathe the neoliberal approach to economics, which has given us supply-side economics, government support for the concentration of industries, and monopoly policies that only JD Rockefeller would love. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama used neoliberal policies alongside Ronald Reagan.
Please read the definition of Neoliberalism. They are not the left. They are the Chicago School people who have destroyed many countries through massive debt and asset extraction. Argentina, Chile, Africa, and of course we in the u,s,
Neoliberali- a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.
The people who came up with this called themselves neoliberal. They were free market laisez faire capitalists. These are the Chicago Boys and Pinochet fans, people like the Koch Bros, or people who opposed the New Deal, or were staunchly against Medicare at the time of that, they want privatization and an end to Social Security, they claim to believe in the invisible hand of the market and insist that the hoi polloi should worship The Economy as a false god, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and maybe Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan.
I'm pretty sure any liberal reading this newsletter is not on board with any of that, and should not be calling themselves neoliberal. because that's what it means.
For the umpteenth time, data centers don't even pay much local tax! I've followed this closely in GA, now the epicenter of data center growth. Most counties concede the local tax argument before it even starts, by granting the massive data centers a payment in lieu of tax deal. Meta Stanton Springs is one of the earliest to be developed. Their PILOT caps the property tax at $5M a year - this for a multi-billion hyperscaler that would owe some $40M a year without that crazy break.
Fulton County GA grants 50% off property tax in year 1, tapering down to 5% off in year 10. That would leave data centers paying real money even in year 1. Except the county assessors appraise new data centers at less than 10% of their value. I'm pressuring local officials for this to be reformed. But for now, data centers are NOT paying significant amounts of tax in the biggest growth region of the country - and I'll bet they're not contributing much anywhere. Find me an actual tax bill that's in the tens of millions and make my day!
In some cases data centers don't pay any taxes they get tax breaks and even maybe get grants of taxpayer money! I heard that in Wisconsin, almost everything to do with data centers is tax exempt. https://chloehumbert.substack.com/p/dont-believe-data-center-hype
Pennsylvania here, we're sick of it, and now "AI Strike Team", an industry coalition outfit, is openly celebrating the conflicts of interest with the wife of Pennsylvania US Senator Dave McCormick being named president at Meta.. as a cozy biz win for their industry. Meta is taking over a nuclear plant outside Pittsburgh... AI Strike Team also hired Governor Josh Shapiro's son. So the corruption is complete. I saw a quote from someone in the state who summed it up sort of like this that there is polarization on the issue, all the politicians of both parties seem to be for it, and all their constituents of both parties are against it.
Philly here. I was considering petitioning Shapiro on this issue, and then I read your comments about his son. WTF. Folks who actually understand the issues will vote NO for a data center in their communities. Do you know of any groups in PA that are actively organizing against data centers in the Commonwealth? Maron
m_fenico@yahoo.com
Yes I will email you about organizing groups and networks. And yes, I've written on my substack repeatedly about Josh Shapiro's missteps in this area (and others).
also...
IT IS IMPERATIVE TO PRESSURE JOSH SHAPIRO ON DATA CENTERS.
Just want that to be clear that these jackaloons in public office want you to think there's no point in bothering them and give up. Don't let them. Even if you think they don't care, they don't deserve to be left alone to do whatever they want.
THEY WORK FOR US.
I love that you all are using this to organize! Let me know if we can help at all.
Atlanta paper today puts up a he-said she-said bothsides thing on whether data centers really pay much property tax in GA, i.e. the tens of millions each that they would be if appraised properly at the capex value. If you read between the lines, the answer is that they don't, of course. I'm quoted extensively but ineffectively. https://www.ajc.com/business/2026/01/data-centers-promise-tax-gains-for-georgia-but-are-they-delivering/
What was not mentioned in the article, these Data Centers also use water for total loss cooling. There are small cities near me facing shallow well drinking water shortage after these startups.
We in central TX already deal with water rationing due to a years long drought. But thousands of new rooftops are routinely approved and the onslaught of data center deals will ramp up soon enough. Our state level power regulators have begun the process of laying costs on existing customers/ratepayers to reduce the costs of long line power transmission build outs as well. Once more into the breach.
Three missing elements in the "data center cult" controversy: the exploding cost and lack of availability of silver, the heat generation by the average 50MW data center: 4.1 billion BTUs per day, and there are already 5,400 in the US, so, hello global heating--21 trillion BTUs per day in the US with projected doubling in 4 yrs, 2030, so 42 trillion BTUs perday. And what about the water consumption? 300 k - 5 M gallons per day per data center, same as small cities. If there ever was a boondoggle, this is it. And all to ELIMINATE JOBS! Brain rot from increasing dependency on electronica and the associated "lazy brain" issue (I just made that one up!). Have a blessed evening and start working on the resume'.
The pushback is understandable.
Data centers do impose real energy, water, and land-use costs - especially when growth is rushed and opaque.
The deeper issue may not be whether we need data centers, but how they’re designed: modular, energy-aware, transparent in resource usage, and built to minimize external strain.
Infrastructure architecture matters as much as policy.
Europeans run data centres underground, rather than cool the systems they heat homes. So why are so many US data centres in the south? 🤔
Excellent article! For more information on AI and data centers, see the following: https://garymarcus.substack.com/
Spread the word.
Please don't use "neoliberalism." It promotes an unfairly negative attitude towards your liberal readers.
Can you explain more? I’m a liberal writer! It’s just a fact that the neoliberal movement has a large share of blame for the policy choices I described that gutted a healthy portion of the country.
Yes, many people embrace what capital extraction is doing to our colonized colonies and our country. a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending. The Chicago boys in Chile Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) , Argentina. We are all Palestinian now.
'm a progressive, and I loathe the neoliberal approach to economics, which has given us supply-side economics, government support for the concentration of industries, and monopoly policies that only JD Rockefeller would love. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama used neoliberal policies alongside Ronald Reagan.
Please read the definition of Neoliberalism. They are not the left. They are the Chicago School people who have destroyed many countries through massive debt and asset extraction. Argentina, Chile, Africa, and of course we in the u,s,
Neoliberali- a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.
Those are 2 different things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
The people who came up with this called themselves neoliberal. They were free market laisez faire capitalists. These are the Chicago Boys and Pinochet fans, people like the Koch Bros, or people who opposed the New Deal, or were staunchly against Medicare at the time of that, they want privatization and an end to Social Security, they claim to believe in the invisible hand of the market and insist that the hoi polloi should worship The Economy as a false god, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and maybe Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan.
I'm pretty sure any liberal reading this newsletter is not on board with any of that, and should not be calling themselves neoliberal. because that's what it means.
Hope this helps!
BTW, Wikipedia is one of their tools.