South Carolina Passes Data Center Incentives

As tax incentives become the table stakes for competing for large data centers, more and more states are passing legislation to equip their economic development teams to compete for projects. The latest is South Carolina, which is struggling to compete with North Carolina and Virginia.

The South Carolina House and the Senate this week passed a bill that would exempt data centers from sales taxes on electricity, but only if the center invests at least $50 million and hires at least 25 people. The bill also would exempt a data center’s computer equipment, hardware and software purchases from the state’s sales tax, according to The State.

While the incentives will help the state over the long term, South Carolina legislators say the bill was passed in response to a particular opportunity. “There is a big (data center) the state feels confident we can land if we get this bill finished up – a big one that is looking somewhere in the Upstate,” Rep. Phyllis Henderson, R-Greenville, told the paper, adding she did not know the specifics. “The main piece of this legislation is because of North Carolina. We were just losing projects right and left to them.”

For more details, read the full story at The State.