SB280 offers millions to tech giants—some say it’ll leave ratepayers holding the bill
By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun
With the help of generous corporate tax breaks, the state of Virginia has built up a data center industry that’s the envy of some Colorado lawmakers.
The tax incentives helped bring Virginia over $9 billion in economic investments and some 75,000 jobs. In some communities, data centers make up as much as a third of the local tax base.
But in the wake of a 2024 state audit detailing the growing environmental and financial costs for Virginia residents, public officials there have growing doubts over whether those jobs were worth the price.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants Colorado to follow in the footsteps of states like Virginia that offer big tech companies a blanket sales tax exemption for data centers, the energy-hungry server far...