Chris Lloyd explains the importance of data centers in today’s current economic climate and how that vitality will only escalate due to advancements in information-driven frontiers in an article he wrote titled “Data Centers: State Legislation Seeks to Capitalize on Data Center Boom”. The article was featured in Site Selection magazine.
“Data center facilities represent incredible economic development opportunities for communities large and small,” Lloyd wrote in the article. “Not only do they support high-wage jobs but, of particular importance to cash-starved governments with citizens upset about higher property valuations, they generate significant new tax revenue to support education, public safety, parks and other essential government services.”
Lloyd notes in his article that the push for state data center development began in 2008 in Virginia with tax exemptions for data center equipment.
“With the world moving toward more IT utilization, these exemptions nearly mimic the long-standing exemption that most states already afforded for manufacturing equipment used to make final products which are then subject to the sales tax,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd details how the boom in the data center industry has encouraged states like Michigan, Kansas and West Virginia to establish government incentives to elevate this growing market.
These investments will result in the creation of jobs, millions of dollars in investments and favorable valuation for property tax purposes.
Lloyd asserts that this kind of legislation will allow data centers to operate in a more cost-effective manner, helping these states to reap the benefits of these projects sooner.
“It is an emerging sector which can benefit communities both large and small,” Lloyd said. “Data centers are essential to the functioning of the global economy.”
