August 5, 2024 — In 2010, state legislators saw an opportunity to lure data centers - huge warehouses of computer servers that feed the modern internet - to Washington with a tax break. They passed the measure by selling it as a jobs creator that would strengthen the local economy of rural areas.

But a Seattle Times investigation with ProPublica found that the state has not disclosed how many permanent, full-time jobs the deal actually created, as lawmakers have kept the information secret under state tax confidentiality laws.

Reporters Sydney Brownstone and Lulu Ramadan, a distinguished fellow in ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, found that the state’s tax giveaway has resulted in $474 million less to state coffers in the past six years alone, making it one of the Washington’s biggest corporate giveaways. The state only analyzed the tax break once, in 2017, and has put off audits of it in the years since. After the measure first passed, lawmakers watered down the minimum job requirements, and the purpose of the tax break – to fuel tech jobs in rural Washington – has strayed from its original promises. In some cases, data center companies reported zero statewide employees on reports disclosed to the public but received the tax break anyway.

This is the second part of our series on data centers in Washington, which guzzle power insatiably at the same time the state is pushing to make utilities here carbon-neutral by 2030. The energy used by data centers is likely to increase as the demand for computing power and artificial intelligence rises.

Some state lawmakers question whether the unclear number of jobs resulting from the tax break – and the rapidly growing demands for power to feed the data centers – has been a good deal for the state.

Read the second installment here.

The reporters are available for interviews.

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About The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times serves the Northwest with independent, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, as the region’s most trusted news media company, dedicated to public service. The Seattle Times is the most-visited digital information source in Washington state and the second-largest newspaper on the West Coast. Founded in 1896 by Alden J. Blethen, The Seattle Times’ stewardship is now led by the Blethen family’s fourth and fifth generations, whose stewardship also includes The Yakima Herald-Republic and The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

About the ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. With a team of more than 100 dedicated journalists, ProPublica covers a range of topics, focusing on stories with the potential to spur real-world impact. Its reporting has contributed to the passage of new laws; reversals of harmful policies and practices; and accountability for leaders at local, state and national levels. Since it began publishing in 2008, ProPublica has received seven Pulitzer Prizes, five Peabody Awards, five Emmy Awards and 15 George Polk Awards.