Report: Former Gov. John Kasich gave at least $2.3 BILLION in tax breaks to Google, Meta, and Amazon
Former Gov. John Kasich gave at least $2.3 billion in tax breaks to Big Tech giants that build data centers, including Google, Meta, and Amazon, according to a new report.
In addition to the three companies, state officials under Kasich’s administration provided sales tax breaks for 15 companies, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The news source reported that companies like Microsoft, Vantage, Cologix, and Quality Technology saved more than $70 million on their data centers thanks to the tax breaks. Meta, Google, and Amazon, however, got the biggest slice of the pie, since government officials offered them a 100% tax break for up to 40 years, as long as the Big Tech companies invest $8 billion in Ohio’s economy through their data centers.
The news source reported that these tax breaks will cost Ohio almost $1.6 billion in 2025 because the state offers either full or partial sales tax exemptions.
“This should be a scandal in terms of the absolutely reckless nature of this tax break to the richest companies in the world,” state Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, told The Columbus Dispatch.
The Ohio Department of Development recently shared information about which companies received tax exemptions, as lawmakers debate whether data center companies should be regulated. The documents shared by the department revealed that Meta, Google, and Amazon received an estimated $1.8 billion in tax breaks, adding that the figure could be higher due to the “uncapped nature of the tax exemption.”
“I don’t think that departments of development should be signing 30-year contracts without the Legislature knowing about it,” House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told The Columbus Dispatch.
While Kasich declined to respond to the news outlet, Dan Tierney, spokesman for Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, defended the tax breaks for the companies, telling the Columbus newspaper that they are a “significant return on investment.”
“The companies are required to show capital investment along with any credits claimed,” he said. “In the last two years, data was available, the companies invested $18 in capital investment for every dollar claimed foregone sales and use tax.”
DeWine previously announced a pause on the data center tax exemption, saying that it is “appropriate for the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to pause its consideration of new data center tax exemptions while the full impact of data center growth in Ohio is being reviewed.”
Representatives of Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft recently testified before the Joint Data Center Committee at the Ohio Statehouse. The only company that promised not to have any tax abatements and nondisclosure agreements was Microsoft.
Representatives from other companies refused to do so.
“Once fully operational, we anticipate that our property tax revenue from our first data center building at each campus will place Microsoft among the top ten property taxpayers in Licking County,” Daniel Brown, senior director for state government affairs at Microsoft, said.
Two Ohio data centers previously received $42 million in tax breaks from the state, even though many residents of the Buckeye State opposed that.
