Dear Coalition Friends and Supporters,
Enough. It is time to end the tax subsidy for the Data Center Industry.
How much more must Virginia families be forced to give up to the wealthiest industry in the world?
OUR pocketbooks and OUR properties are already experiencing the catastrophic results of the data centers’ unprecedented energy demands. Our properties are being consumed by a myriad of high voltage transmission lines and substations, and our electric bills are skyrocketing.
NOW add to the list: Hundreds of thousands of Virginia’s public school children are denied critical funding.
(See below to make your voice heard.)
Virginia’s Data Center Tax Abatement Cost Public Schools $267 Million in FY 2024 – Good Jobs First
Washington, DC — Virginia’s sales and use tax exemption for data centers cost the Commonwealth about $1.02 billion in fiscal year 2024, including an estimated $267 million that otherwise would have supported K–12 public schools. That amounts to about $212 per student statewide in just one year.
Those are the key findings in a new study released by Good Jobs First, the nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog on economic development subsidies.
“Virginia is handing out a giant tax break to an industry that doesn’t need it, while public schools pay the price,” said Anthony Elmo, Good Jobs First public education defender and co-author of the report. “This is not smart economic development. It is a runaway subsidy that shortchanges students, educators, and taxpayers.”
The problem is getting worse fast. After surging in FY 2024, the report notes that total statewide losses from the exemption — including local and regional sales tax losses — soared to $1.94 billion in FY 2025.
When Governor Spanberger was running for office, she was directly asked, in front of a large crowd of supporters (summer of 2024) at a fundraiser, how she was going to protect Virginians from “unconstrained data center development.”
She committed to studying the problem more and ensuring that Virginia families would come first.
It is time to keep your promise, Governor Spanberger.
It is time to put Virginia families first! The world is watching. There is no threading the needle. There is only one way through this growing crisis: Stand up for Viriginia’s grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, and children who are all suffering under the weight of rising costs and experiencing lower quality of life.
While an aging grid, extreme weather, and increased natural gas prices have contributed to more than 25 years of ballooning electricity prices, now data centers are gobbling up resources. And with Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon—considered the four major hyperscalers—projected to spend an eye-watering $700 billion on AI build-outs in 2026, these prices are unlikely to decrease anytime soon. Moreover, the individuals likely to pay for the exorbitant electricity to power these centers are more likely to be small businesses and working and middle-class Americans, analysts indicated.
“The income and spending drags will likely be larger for lower-income households because electricity accounts for a greater share of their spending, as well as for households in areas with higher concentrations of data centers where regional power markets will tighten more,” the note said.
Hidden fees drive surge in Virginia electric bills | News | princewilliamtimes.com
Roughly half the riders help Dominion address rising power demand from data centers.
There are THREE easy and effective ways that YOU can make a difference. Each one only takes a few minutes.
Make your voice heard:
- Send your own email to the Governor:
abigail.spanberger@governor.virginia.gov
- Call the Governor’s office:
804-786-2211
Tell the Governor: YOU can do the right thing.
Stand with Senator Lucas. Stand with the conservation organizations. STAND with Virginia families, farmers, and small businesses. RESCIND the state tax giveaway to the wealthy data center industry. It’s time. Make them pay their fair share. No more, no less.
- Or contact the Governor and our state legislators using this format made easy by the Piedmont Environmental Council:
Let Your Legislators and the Governor Know: It’s Time to End the Big Tax Break for Data Centers
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