Many states don’t report losses from data center tax breaks, study says

A recent study revealed that numerous U.S. states are reportedly failing to disclose the financial impact of tax incentives offered to data centers. This lack of transparency is identified as a violation of standards set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a private organization that establishes financial reporting guidelines for state and local governments. The primary concern is that states are not adequately reporting the financial losses incurred as a result of these data center-related tax breaks. The article also briefly touches upon data center water consumption, illustrating this with a mention of an Amazon Web Services data center located in Ashburn, Virginia, pictured as of October 2025.