NCSL tells Alaska committee states are narrowing — not expanding — most data‑center tax incentives

The Alaska House State Affairs Committee heard a briefing April 28 from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) on how state legislatures nationwide are handling data‑center development, taxation and grid impacts.

Nicholas Miller, NCSL fiscal affairs policy associate, told the committee that 38 states offer a targeted tax incentive for data centers — most commonly a sales‑tax exemption — but that more states are moving to narrow or roll back incentives than to create new ones this year. “One data center can be, over 1,000,000,000 dollars,” Miller said, underscoring the scale of capital investment that drives policy decisions.

Miller said incentives persist because states compete to attract large capital projects, but added that permanent employment at operational data centers is typically small — “on the…