According to a new report, North Dakota is one of at least 14 states that don’t disclose how much money data centers save through tax breaks and the findings are prompting researchers to call for greater transparency around industry subsidies. Supporters of data centers argue they’re good for ec onomic development, bringing high-paying jobs, tax revenue and capital investment to communities, with many states giving special tax breaks to companies that build them. Kasia Tarczynska with Good Jobs First says the data center industry continues to lack transparency, and states like North Dakota are withholding how much money is going to tax breaks for these facilities. https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/2626/files/2026/08/nd-data-center1.mp3 “Some states are doing a little bit better job than other states, but generally speaking, states in [the] Midwest really need to step up and disclose way more information about data center subsidies, because the transparency is quite poor.” Tarczynska says data centers often don’t pay sales taxes on equipment like servers, computers and cooling systems due to state-level economic development incentives. https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/2626/files/2026/08/nd-data-center2.mp3 “Every time a regular person goes to a store and buys a computer, we pay sales tax. That goes to state budget, and that money supports public services, supports infrastructure development, supports schools, public healthcare program, and so on.” There are currently 23 data center facilities in North Dakota, according to Data Center Map, which tracks these developments across the United States. ...read more read less