Good Jobs First

NEW: At least 10 states lose over $100 million per year in tax revenue to data centers. The loss of revenue is surely worse than we can yet document — of the 32 states with data center tax incentives, 12 fail to disclose even *aggregate* revenue losses. 👇🏾 goodjobsfirst.org/runaway-data-c…

New Yorkers would be better served if IDAs were funded within local governments budgets (and there should only be one per labor market). And IDAs should be prohibited from abating the roughly 60% share of property taxes that would otherwise go to schools. goodjobsfirst.org/perverse-incen…

Our follow-up with @ReinventAlbany found law firms are also big winners: they earn transaction fees on IDA deals. Two of upstate New York’s most politically active law firms earn tens of millions of dollars a year in fees from IDA subsidies to businesses. goodjobsfirst.org/upstate-law-fi…

"The Genesee County Economic Development Center, meanwhile, should its board of directors approve the project, would ... earn $146 million in fees — enough to fund its annual operations for decades." 🧵

@GregLeRoy4 Over the past two decades, ICE’s contract obligations have more than doubled even while the number of unique contractors fell by 71%, our recent report revealed. Here's how we did this painstaking research: #SunshineWeek goodjobsfirst.org/sunshine-week-…

@GregLeRoy4 Industry titans have long used secrecy to extract public resources to push profits to a select, small group. Big Tech in their data centers push are just the latest. The good news is, sunlight can play a vital role in curbing their scope. #SunshineWeek goodjobsfirst.org/the-same-secre…

What does America mean to you? 🇺🇸 Participatory government, for starters. During #SunshineWeek, it’s worth remembering democracy works best when people can see how decisions are made & how public money is spent, to hold leaders accountable when it’s not. goodjobsfirst.org/what-does-amer…

Great points from @cplusci on why we should be challenging unconstrained AI data center energy demands instead of pretending that there are sustainable solutions to their profligate, rapidly expanding resource consumption

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla collectively paid only a 4.9% federal income tax rate last year. How did we get here? Two rounds of tax changes from President Trump led to minuscule tax rates for these companies and many other profitable corporates. itep.org/amazon-alphabe…

We found this tax break costs communities hundreds of millions of dollars each year and primarily benefits some of the state’s worst repeat polluters. Not just ineffective, the exemption also worsens the toll of environmental racism. goodjobsfirst.org/outrage-on-the…

Bombshell series about a little-known tax break costing Michiganders billions of dollars; it's far from clear there are any winners besides the wealthy companies pocketing the money. Some lawmakers say it's time to repeal the tax break, begun in 1965. bridgedetroit.com/michigan-heavy…

Michigan is still one of the only states in the country that exempts its Legislature and governor from public records disclosure. Public bodies also appear to be getting worse at complying with requests in a timely and comprehensive manner. Policymakers from both parties have promised this reform for years. The time has come to get it done.

"During the first 12 months of Trump 2.0, the EPA announced 586 civil penalty cases, well below the total of 889 cases during the final 12 months of Biden. The Trump cases entailed $722M in penalties, which is vastly below the $3.2B total for the Biden cases during that period."

The data center planned for WNY is funded in part by a billionaire with ties to Epstein. Stream Data Centers is a subsidiary of Apollo. CEO Marc Rowan worked for years with the sex offender on tax avoidance matters. Stream is seeking $1.4B in subsidies. investigativepost.org/2026/03/19/dat…

New: Stream Data Centers is demanding one of the largest tax breaks ever recorded for a data center campus in exchange for building at NY’s struggling STAMP industrial park. Stream wants subsidies totaling $1.4 billion. Cost per job? $11.7 million. investigativepost.org/2026/03/18/sub…

Join us 3/18 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, when we'll hear from city officials - including Denton, TX and Eugene, OR - about how they've increased engagement with communities around economic development incentives, and on a limited budget! Register here: bit.ly/modelwebinar

As we continue to track corporate disclosures for 2025, so far 234 companies have avoided $125 billion in federal income tax on $880 billion in profits. itep.org/corporate-tax-…

The Kansas bill would not only give the Chiefs a voting seat on the state sports authority, it would exempt the stadium from oversight and competitive bidding rules. One state senator warns it would set up "an unaccountable 'Shadow Government.'" fieldofschemes.com/2026/03/12/238…