Democratic Senator Proposes New Federal Tax on Data Centers To Offset Power Costs

Congress should consider raising a new excise tax on data center development to offset rising power costs and workforce disruption, one lawmaker says.Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said a new excise tax should offset data centers' rising rising energy demands. It could also address the broader workforce disruptions created by the artificial intelligence tools the data centers power. The debate comes as both parties jockey with how to address the fast-growing data center industry nationwide. Thousands of new data center proposals have brought impacts on the housing market and energy prices. They've also emerged as a midterms flashpoint, as the parties try to contend with how to regulate the industry. "To address the impacts on communities and the country – higher energy prices, drained resources, and workforce upheaval – we will need new streams of revenue," Wyden said in a white paper. "It is only logical that we look to the companies building and benefitting from these projects to contribute."In addition to the "Data Center Public Investment excise tax," he said the existing tax breaks offered to data centers should be repealed. Many of th...