Democrat Rob Sand says if he’s elected governor, he’d sign a bill banning tax breaks for data centers. Sand has been discussing the topic on the campaign trail and posted this statement on social media in July.
“Data centers in Iowa right now get a tax break. Every piece of equipment that they put in their data center, they don’t pay taxes on,” Sand said. “That’s crazy. They should pay taxes just like everybody else.”
Data centers can claim sales tax refunds on computer purchases. There’s also a property tax exemption for the computers and equipment used to operate a data center. Sand today (Tuesday) released a series of steps he says will ensure data centers are contributing to Iowa’s economy, like requiring data centers to pay 100 percent of the costs of infrastructure upgrades and energy usage. Sand says any data center deal with a local Iowa government should be a public record and include information about water and energy usage as well as the wages workers will be paid.
