By Anna Staver
cleveland.com
(TNS)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — State and local tax breaks for data centers would effectively be wiped out under legislation U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said he plans to introduce.
The Ohio Republican said his proposal would impose a federal tax equal to 100% of any tax incentive a state or local government gives a data center.
“I don’t want a single taxpayer dollar going to support these data centers,” Moreno said Thursday during the Ohio Energy Affordability Summit, hosted by Arnold Ventures and Club for Growth.
The proposal would not stop Ohio or its cities, counties and townships from offering tax breaks. Instead, it would effectively erase the savings for data center companies by taxing them for the same amount at the federal level.
Moreno has not yet introduced the legislation, so details about exactly how it would work are not yet available.
Recommended Articles
The proposal could have a major impact in Ohio, where state and local governments have used tax breaks to attract billions of dollars in data center investment.
Ohio exempts qualifying data centers from sales taxes on equipment, construction materials and power infrastructure. The cost of that exemption has soared as the industry has grown, prompting Gov. Mike DeWine to pause consideration of new agreements earlier this year.
Moreno has been a vocal critic of those incentives.
In March, he wrote a letter to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority criticizing its decision to give Ark Data Centers a $4.5 million state sales tax break for a $136 million expansion in Akron and Independence.
The project was expected to create 10 full-time jobs with between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in annual payroll, according to the Ohio Department of Development. In exchange, Ark received a 50% sales tax exemption on qualifying data center equipment for 10 years.
“That’s not economic development,” Moreno wrote. “That’s a sweetheart deal for Wall Street while everyday Ohioans are forced to foot the bill.”
Photo caption: Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) speaks during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on July 16, 2026. (Senator Bernie Moreno/YouTube)
_______
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.
Download this content today!
Register Now Already registered? Click here to Log In
