As Washington Cuts Data Center Tax Breaks, Oregon Lawmakers Consider Expanding Even More Generous Exemptions

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.

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.

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.

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.