New data published by Signal Ohio reveals Ohio awarded at least $2.3 billion in sales tax exemptions to data center companies — handing Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL), Meta (Nasdaq: META), and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) $600 million apiece in a program whose true cost the state kept from both the public and its own legislature for years.
The program dates to the early 2010s under then-Gov. John Kasich. It gives qualifying companies a 100% exemption from Ohio’s 5.75% sales tax on data center equipment and construction materials, requiring a minimum $100 million capital investment. Initial approvals run 15 years and are renewable for up to 40 years — in the case of Google, Meta, and Amazon, running as late as 2058.
The full scope emerged only when two Democratic state legislators obtained internal documents from the Ohio Department of Development and passed them to Signal Ohio. Those records show 18 companies received exemptions averaging $121 million each — figures the department had otherwise withheld from public view.
State fiscal projections had placed the 2025 cost at $135.8 million. The actual bill ran to nearly $1.57 billion — almost 12 times what the state predicted. In 2024, Ohio surrendered $554.9 million in state sales tax revenue on data center purchases; local governments absorbed a further $166.8 million in losses the same year. State Rep. David Thomas (R) put it plainly, saying, “The legislature was not told of this cost until seeing it in the newspaper.”
The figures put Gov. Mike DeWine in an uncomfortable position. He had vetoed a June 2025 budget provision that would have ended the program, arguing data centers were essential to Ohio’s economic competitiveness — a case that looks harder to make at $1.57 billion a year. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman has since said his chamber may move to override that veto.
On May 27, 2026, DeWine directed the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to stop processing new exemption applications while the legislature’s Joint Data Center Committee completes its review. Existing contracts remain fully intact. Because Signal Ohio’s documents describe the exemption structure as “uncapped,” officials acknowledge the 40-year total could climb well beyond $2.3 billion.
Beyond the three largest recipients, Cologix collected $93 million across two facilities, Vantage received $83 million, and QTS Data Centers and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) each received $73 million. Ohio now hosts over 200 data centers — the fifth-highest count among US states — at a cost of roughly $1 million per permanent data center job the program creates.
The governor has defended the program, citing $27.2 billion in capital investment from data center operators in 2025 alone. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce warned that the freeze risks driving tech investment to competing states. Rep. Mike Dovilla (R) called it “too little, too late.”
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