Do Tax Breaks For Data Centers Make Sense? (datacenterfrontier.com)

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 17, 2015 @05:30PM from the saving-data-and-dollars dept.

1sockchuck writes: Does it make sense for state to offer tax incentives to lure huge data center projects? After an extended debate, legislators in Michigan have approved tax breaks for a $5 billion data center in Grand Rapids. The project from Switch, which previously built the SuperNAP in Las Vegas, brought the debate into stark relief due to the size of the project — an estimated 2 million square feet of data center space. States competing for projects often find themselves in a bind, since the highly-automated facilities create a limited number of permanent jobs, but many states already offer juicy incentives. Michigan ultimately sought a middle path, tying the tax breaks to job creation goals. If the data center jobs don't materialize, the breaks disappear.

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Municipal fiber is a waste of taxpayer dollars by Anonymous Coward · 2015-12-17 17:43 · Score: -1, Offtopic

When will you people learn that roads, libraries, schools, han solo dies in the new star wars, and parks are much more deserving of your taxpayer dollars than a silly toy like municipal fiber? It's like demanding that every house should receive a yak as a Christmas present. Useless.