Data Center Is Getting a $77M Tax Break to Create One Job(nysfocus.com)
29 pointsby jaredwiener3 hours ago5 comments
  • nonethewiser2 hours ago
    Purposefully misleading or just misinformed?

    There is one permanent job being created, but that's not what the tax break is for.

    Cities offer tax breaks because there are other advantages. Vendor services, long term tax base (largely through property tax), infrastructure improvements (grid capacity, fiber, etc)and temporary construction work. You might say the temporary construction work is worth very little, but then you have to recognize much of the tax breaks are bound to the temporary construction phase as well.

    We can weigh the pros and cons but this article is not doing that.

    • jrflo2 hours ago
      Exactly. The municipalities offer these tax breaks (the article cites the tax breaks are for sales taxes) so that they can continually draw property tax from the site. In the long run, it should provide more tax funds for the community. Not to say there aren't downsides to building datacenters, but it's misleading to pretend it's for 'job creation'.
      • lux-lux-lux2 hours ago
        They’re also getting a property tax abatement until 2044, so nope!

        This is 100% a screwing of the taxpayers, and that’s before you consider all the more productive ways that money could be spent.

    • pj_mukh2 hours ago
      "infrastructure improvements (grid capacity, fiber, etc)"

      Do these projects fund these? Because the crux of the best argument against data centers is hinged on a lack of infrastructure (power, water etc.) availability.

      • nonethewiseran hour ago
        Yes, they do fund them. They depend on local infrastructure providing them.
  • caesil2 hours ago
    This is a straight up lie of a headline.

    The tax exemption was for SALES TAX on MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT for CONSTRUCTION, because those local purchases helped the local construction industry.

    You can read the actual authorizing resolution for yourself here:

    https://rocklandida.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Authorizi...

    The idea that permanent jobs were some kind of a trade, or even factored into the decision at all, is completely fabricated.

    • lux-lux-luxan hour ago
      It’s “exemptions from state and local sales tax on materials, services and equipment used in the construction, renovation and equipping of the Project” and that includes a whole lot more than local construction industry stuff. Most of the cost of a data center comes from servers and other hardware, in particular. Also, there’s other tax breaks (like the property tax abatement) that come from working within IDA.

      I do agree that local jobs have nothing to do with this decision, because it’s clearly a stupid one if that’s the case.

  • mumbisChungo2 hours ago
    A good faith dollar-focused rebuttal would probably involve one or both of directly addressing the claims of the cost-benefit analysis or discussion of costs to the tax base not considered in the C-B A.
  • ETH_startan hour ago
    >The story goes that Milton Friedman was once taken to see a massive government project somewhere in Asia. Thousands of workers using shovels were building a canal. Friedman was puzzled. Why weren't there any excavators or any mechanized earth-moving equipment? A government official explained that using shovels created more jobs. Friedman's response: "Then why not use spoons instead of shovels?"
  • therobots9272 hours ago
    It really is a sick joke to pretend that datacenters “bring jobs” to local communities. Data centers require specialized experience so 99% of the workforce will be brought in from out of state, or from an urban area within the state.

    When you’re saying this in poverty-stricken areas like West Virginia, it’s really no different from this stomach-turning scene from Succession: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biN5cvMjRtI

    Absolutely vile.