this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Oligarchs are robbing everyone.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Why? Is it creating construction jobs? Doubt the entire salaries of everyone building it will total anywhere near that amount.

Jobs after? What, like a dozen security guards and a couple IT people? Those things practically run themselves from what I understand.

Just pay that money directly to the construction workers and scrap the data centre.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 45 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why do they need to give tax breaks?

These companies are falling all over themselves to build data centers and can't find enough places, states should be charging a tax premium on data centers.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because, and this is true, Louisiana is one of the most corrupt states in the union. Everybody with a shred of power has their hand out for pennies.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 6 points 1 day ago

Bro can you IMAGINE how many bayou boats and pickup trucks you can buy with the bribes from saving billions of dollars for a trillions of dollars legal-entity-person?

You know that line from game of thrones: A Datacenter always pays his debts!

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Because unless every single state does it, they'll go to the one that doesn't.

The states are still going to make a lot of money off this, its just delayed by ~~7 years~~ by their duration.

Would you rather get money ~~in 7 years~~ when they expire and increased income taxes from building it/staffing it or nothing?

This is for anything, not just data centers. States will always fight to get the investment.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's a really dumb way of doing things that should be regulated as it results in essentially every major industrial site operating tax free for years because they can always play states off of one another.

Meanwhile the citizens of the state are going to spend years eating the costs of building the new infrastructure required to support the new operation.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The citizens often dont eat anything, as its usually just delayed property taxes or other similar things. Im sure thats not always the case though and maybe they are sometimes given money.

The state then gets all the income taxes and jobs from building it.

But ya, without legislating things like this away it wont stop.

Edit: oh I misread part of what you said, you meant the supporting infrastructure like if the state paid for a new substation. Im sure that does happen, that would negate the income taxes for awhile. They should make the businesses pay for that, and let them recoup that through the tax benefits. Don't take money from the tax payers to help them out.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I meant all of the substations, roads, police, etc that will now need to have a bit more funding.

I don't know a good way of solving it, but the 'I can just go to another state' gives these companies way too much bargaining power and the net result is that all states lose out on income that they shouldn't have to have given up in the first place.

It seems absurd, it isn't like regular people can just say 'Well, I'm going to buy a house in the next county over unless you guys give me a break on my property tax' and then get to live there property tax free (though, now that I think about it, I'm sure there are people rich enough to do this too :/)

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm sure there are people rich enough to do this too

I wont build my multi million dollar mansion here thats going to staff 8 full time people unless you waive my property taxes for 2 decades.

Jesus. It probably does happen. 😭

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Jesus. It probably does happen. 😭

If I ever want to know about rich people using shady tricks in order to get tax breaks, there is one content creator that always delivers: https://www.floridapoliticalreview.com/trumps-mar-a-lago-tax-break/

[–] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 67 points 2 days ago (2 children)

more than seven years of the states entire police budget

What a weird line item to compare. TF do the cops, another entity that should be defunded, have to do with this?

[–] Sequence5666@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Maybe they want right wing men also to get their pitchforks.

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 25 points 2 days ago

Something the money that Meta won’t be paying won’t be paying for.

[–] omnioki@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

The fact that they compare this to POLICE budgets says volumes.

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 2 days ago (5 children)

What is Louisiana getting for those $3.3 billion in tax breaks?

[–] AliasAKA@lemmy.world 72 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A data center that will employ like 100 people and destroy their local air quality (probably), blast tons of light at night (definitely) and otherwise destroy the local ecology.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 44 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Don't forget all the water and electricity that will be taken away from the people.

[–] micka190@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

Or the audible sound that'll make every house and bit of land around it an absolutely miserable place to live, because you'll feel it in your bones at all time :)

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago

Their politicians are drastically increasing their personal wealth and think they're ensuring decades of campaign contributions...

Because they're too stupid to realize the tech ros will replace them for even greedier people who ask even less questions.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago

I bet those politicians are getting some sweet ~~bribes~~ gratuitues

[–] mech@feddit.org 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

A couple of Louisiana's citizens (i.e. the politicians who agreed to this) will get a lot richer.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

2 cable monkey jobs

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 38 points 2 days ago

Yes but think of all the jobs they'll be earning by attracting META to build in their state with those massive tax writeoffs.. In their.. Automated.. Very lightly staffed datacenter..

[–] xerxes@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago

Fuck AI and fuck these data centers.

[–] buzz86us@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wow Louisiana is like a microcosm of what happens when Republicans run a government into the ground. If you don't get cancer from ethane cracking, have combustible water from fracking or brown water from data centers, then you can die in a hurricane.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

wouldnt that be missipi/missoiuri.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People can shelter there when the next Katrina hits.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

assuming lousiania doesnt fall into ocean first. at least alligators will be able to expand its territories in the future.

[–] BillCheddar@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not only do we have to have these surveillance buildings thrust into our communities against our will, we also have to pay the fucking Nazi bastards to put them in?

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

And you will like it and ask for more.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

And what are they getting back? No I'm not talking about kickbacks to the few govt burocrats that authorized this.

Hint: nothing

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

android zuckerberg needs this datacenter hooked up to his mind 100% of the time.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

At least they’re gonna get a great unemployment rate now.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

also likely behind the congressional map redestricting too, to make it favorable for a datacenter to be built and not face resistant from the locals,