Companies have saved $474 million since 2018, with most of the windfall going to Washington-based tech giant Microsoft. Lawmakers repeatedly expanded who qualifies, and they lowered the number of jobs expected in return.

One of Washington’s largest corporate tax breaks has grown alongside a data center boom in Central Washington, including this data center in East Wenatchee owned by the Sabey Corp. Despite forgoing more than $474 million since 2018, the state can’t say how many jobs were created by the tax break. During that same time frame, it also hasn’t evaluated whether the revenue loss was worth it.

  • PowerCrazyEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    Yea I suppose the maintenance of those systems provides some employable benefit. So let’s say 1000 contractors, is that worth ~500million in tax breaks over 6 years? I’d say absolutely not. If that number were 100x or even 10x maybe, but ultimately it’s 500million stolen by the private entities based on exaggerated employment claims and dubious accounting.