GOP Rep. McCormick: New Data Centers Shouldn't Get 'Any Tax Breaks'

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) said that he thinks data centers are beneficial, but “if you’re negotiating any new data centers, I don’t think you should give them any tax breaks. There are certain states that are trying to do that, like West Virginia, they’re trying to draw that business to their state. But, quite frankly, there’s no reason to incentivize.”

McCormick stated, “You know how many people know when they pass by an average data center? Hardly anybody, because they’re not noisy, they’re not hot. They’re paying for themselves. The new data centers don’t consume water. They circulate water. You don’t have to change the water for ten years. Almost all of them are now being built with central locations of fuel cells, so they’re actually net positives in the energy production. Most people don’t know that. … It’s going to produce all kinds of tax revenue, so it’s going to actually pay for your local taxes, in many ways, you’re going to have better schools, better facilities, all paid for by these data centers. Most people have no idea when there’s a data center locally –.”

Host Leland Vittert then cut in to say, “You just said taxes. I think this is interesting. This is the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, Georgia tax revenue given up for data centers. So, this is the tax incentives to data centers, tax incentives are a handout from states to billionaires, 500 million dollars in tax revenue given up for data centers in Georgia.”

McCormick responded, “Yeah. So, if you’re negotiating any new data centers, I don’t think you should give them any tax breaks. There are certain states that are trying to do that, like West Virginia, they’re trying to draw that business to their state. But, quite frankly, there’s no reason to incentivize. As a matter of fact, I’ve made the point that if you want to build data centers, build [them] on bases. … I think it’s a good place to start. And then when people say, man, I want that same benefit where I live, then you won’t have this problem anymore.”

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