Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Richard Blumenthal released a report on October 9, 2026, titled Power and Profits: How the AI Data Center Boom Costs Households and Communities. The document estimates that state and local governments have lost billions in tax revenue due to incentives granted to data center developers.
The investigation covers seven companies: Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, CoreWeave, Digital Realty, and Equinix. According to the senators, these firms actively seek sales tax exemptions and subsidies without providing sufficient data on job creation to justify the public support.
The report highlights a lack of transparency, noting that many companies require local authorities to sign nondisclosure agreements. Additionally, the research indicates that data center construction in the US has quadrupled over the past four years, placing strain on local energy infrastructure and electricity rates.
The findings also reference the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced corporate tax liabilities for major cloud and AI spenders. As an example, the report notes that Meta's federal income tax fell from $9.6 billion in 2024 to $2.8 billion in 2025.
