The Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program, enacted in Act 25 of 2021, incentivized data centers to locate in Pennsylvania by exempting computer data center equipment from sales and use tax when it is sold to, used, or consumed in a certified data center, by an owner, operator or qualified tenant.

Promoted as a means of generating investment in Pennsylvania data centers, the Program has achieved that objective, with reports of more than fifty new data centers added and proposed in the state during this time. The Shapiro Administration recently revised upward its estimate for the tax revenue loss to the commonwealth, now $115 million in this fiscal year and $188 million next fiscal year, ballooning to more than $500 million annually by 2030.

Rather than continue to give a special tax incentive to the thriving data center industry, I am proposing that the Computer Data Center Equipment Exemption Program be repealed, with the resulting revenue directed to the Motor License Fund for the sole purpose of reducing the Oil Company Franchise Tax, which adds about 58 cents to every gallon of gas and 74 cents to every gallon of diesel purchased in Pennsylvania.

Please join me in supporting this change that will bring relief to Pennsylvanians from both data centers and high gas prices.