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As Washington Cuts Data Center Tax Breaks, Oregon Lawmakers Consider Expanding Even More Generous Exemptions News By Lucille McNamara On Mar 10, 2026 Google data center on the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon | Credit: Lambtron While Washington lawmakers are pulling back on tax breaks offered to data centers, Oregon lawmakers are considering implementing even more generous tax exemptions. On Saturday, the Washington House Finance Committee passed Senate Bill 6231 with a vote of 8-6. The bill eliminates tax exemptions currently offered on replaced or refurbished data center server equipment. However, tax exemptions on the purchase of new equipment will remain unchanged. Typically, this equipment needs to be replaced every three to five years. Washington Eliminates Sales Tax Exemptions Currently, the 6.5% sales tax is not applied to data centers in most Washington counties, nor onto labor payments for people hired to install the equipment. Tidings Data Snapshot Washington Tax Break Rollback 6.5% Washington state sales tax rate 29 Rural counties covered by the exemption 3 Urban counties covered : King, Pierce, Snohomish July 1, 2026 Refurbishment based certificates expire Source: Washington Senate Bill Report SB 6231 and House Bill Report ESSB 6231 Dailytidings.com Opposing the tax cutback, big tech companies argued that data centers are economic powerhouses and assist rural communities. Data Centers Receive Massive Tax Incentives but Employ Few Full-Time Staff In reality, data centers employ relatively few permanent staff despite receiving massive tax incentives. Only Between 50 and 70 People are Employed at the Facebook Data Center At the beginning of 2026, Hillsboro data centers employed about 590 people, while giant corporations like Facebook, in Central Oregon, employ between 50 and 70 permanent staff. It is only when data centers are under construction that thousands of people are employed in temporary jobs. There are fewer than 200 permanent staff employed at most on-site operations. Oregon Lawmakers are Considering Even More Generous Tax Concessions for Enterprise-Zone Corporations Oregon lawmakers last week debated whether to grant even more generous enterprise-zone property tax exemptions to new data centers. Tidings Data Snapshot What Two Oregon Data Center Deals Pay Locally $4.0M Amazon Umatilla annual improvement payment $750K Amazon extra annual fee per added center after five $1.45M Google The Dalles initial fee $1.0M Google The Dalles annual fee Source: Oregon Property Tax Incentives Impact Study examples of local monetary requirements Dailytidings.com House Bill 4084 would have expanded Oregon’s enterprise zone tax concessions for new investment, but lawmakers approved a change to block the exemptions to new data center projects until the summer of 2027. Property Tax Rebates are Granted to New Businesses in 73 Enterprise Zones Oregon has 73 enterprise zones where new business investors enjoy the benefits of generous property tax rebates. The rebates are an incentive from the State legislature to create employment opportunities across 55 rural and 18 urban areas. Here is the size of the enterprise zone system Oregon is debating. Program measure Oregon figure Enterprise zones 73 Rural zones 55 Urban zones 18 Active SEZ projects in 2023 278 Related investment $5.3 billion Property taxes abated $61.2 million New jobs reported 13,480 Completed projects now taxable 122 Actual taxes imposed on completed projects $14.4 million The expansion of the industry in Oregon is continuing, with new projects planned in cities like Forest Grove, a Washington County city, 25 miles west of Portland. Presently, there are 136 data centers operated by 37 providers located across the state. Share Twitter Facebook ReddIt WhatsApp Pinterest Email