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The state Senate Thursday approved tax breaks to attract data centers to Michigan.
Under the legislation, data centers would be eligible for a 6-percent break on Michigan’s sales, use and property taxes.
Legislative sponsor, Senate Republican Tonya Schuitmaker, says in addition to the investment made by data centers, experiences in other states have shown multitenant data centers attract a presence from their tenant companies.
She says if companies like PayPal, eBay and Amazon come to the state they will spend millions of dollars here too.
But Senate Democrat Rebekah Warren says the legislation doesn’t have any accountability measures, so if jobs aren’t actually created or an investment isn’t made, there is no way to get the money back.
The legislation was prompted by the Nevada-based company, Switch, showing interest in making a $5-billion investment to locate a data center at the former Steelcase location in Grand Rapids.
The company has signaled it would build its facility in another state with a friendlier tax code if the Michigan Legislature doesn’t pass the tax incentive bills before the end of the year.
The House has its own version of the bills.
