[CrimsonRain]

Why do data centers need to be taxed separately?

Why does the local community need their take from that economic activity? What are they even providing? Are they providing land, electricity, and hardware for free to the data center?

[fra]

For two reasons: 1. They create externalities 2. They generate an economic flux that can be taxed

[CrimsonRain]

So where were you in last 20 years asking for tax on DCs?

[cogman10]

We are talking about multiple datacenters being built today which use more power than all the 2006 data centers combined.

The energy usage of these new datacenters is unlike anything we've previously seen. The closest we've seen was crypto mining and people certainly protested that.

[rainsford]

I can't speak for the person you're replying to, but data center growth wasn't massively exploding 20 years ago.

[jbm]

If human activity is taxed, AI activity will be taxed. It's just inevitable. It will be taxed at multiple levels until we figure out the right level to do so. Some of it will be detrimental to AI development but that's normal - in Canada we had a hidden manufacturing sales tax until the 80s which made exports more expensive.

A technology that puts X% of people out of work is going to be taxed.

[CrimsonRain]

DCs do much more than AI.

AI companies are already paying tax.

[rainsford]

At the very least they take limited land in a community that could instead be used for any number of different things. If they're not taxed, they provide essentially no benefit, economic or otherwise, to the community in which they're located. Basically any other use of the land would provide more localized benefit by providing more jobs, housing, places for residents to shop or things for them to do, etc, all of which benefit the community more than a data center.

Of course data centers aren't just taking up land. They also in many cases produce massive amounts of noise, water and electricity usage, and are visually pretty unappealing to have in your backyard. And there is essentially no upside. Data centers aren't like shopping malls. You might benefit from them existing, but you don't benefit from them existing right next door. If they're not providing at least some tax benefits to the community, I can think of zero reason any community would want them.

[inigyou]

The xAI one is emitting so much NOx pollution that it gave entire towns asthma for the rest of their lives and nobody is compensating them for it. People in Georgia are being threatened with no electricity next year because it's all going to data centers.

[CrimsonRain]

Has nothing to do with taxing dc.

Sue them for pollution/hazard.

So raise the prices? Build more capacity? If you elect politician who can't plan ahead for a simple thing as electricity grid capacity...who's to blame?