Meta's $10 billion Louisiana data center is getting $3.3 billion in tax breaks-more than seven years of the state's entire police budget | Fortune

"At least 36 states currently provide tax breaks for companies to build the facilities, coming at a cost of billions in forgone revenue. Virginia, the state with the most data centers, is dishing out $1.9 billion annually to data center developers. For Georgia, it's $2.6 billion annually, according to an official state estimate. And after offering $150 million in breaks in 2024, Texas's comptroller's office this year upped that number to more than $1 billion annually, a nearly 567% increase in just one year."

"In Louisiana, those numbers pale in comparison to what the state is offering to just one company, Meta, to build the Hyperion, a mammoth $10 billion data center currently under construction in Richland Parish, La. The company will receive $3.3 billion in tax breaks, according to a Sherwood News analysis, enough money to fund the entire state's police budget for more than seven years, according to the report."

""These are wasteful subsidies for an industry that is growing very quickly and doesn't need any public investments or support," said Kasia Tarczynska, senior research analyst at Good Jobs First, a policy resource center that focuses on government accountability around the use of public subsidies. Tarczynska told Fortune the $3.3 billion estimate is a conservative estimate, and that the subsidies are likely larger than anyone can predict."

Data centers needed to support national AI growth are rapidly being built in rural and suburban areas, often with footprints larger than major urban parks. Many states provide tax breaks to attract these projects, resulting in billions of dollars in forgone revenue. Virginia provides about $1.9 billion annually, Georgia about $2.6 billion annually, and Texas increased its incentives to more than $1 billion annually after a large jump from the prior year. Louisiana’s incentives for Meta’s Hyperion project total an estimated $3.3 billion, which could cover the state’s police budget for more than seven years. Critics argue these subsidies are wasteful because the industry is growing quickly and does not require public investment.

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