Adams County, OH — New research from the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch examines tax incentives for a major data center project in Adams County, Ohio. State officials and data center advocates have argued that tax incentives are necessary to lure developers to states and reap the economic benefits of data center development across the country, but the case in Adams County exemplifies potential negative economic impact to local communities. 

The research, based on a review of documents related to Project Galaxy, a proposed Amazon-owned data center in Adams County, breaks down what certain tax incentive proposals for Project Galaxy could mean for local taxpayers, including: 

• Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) agreements, which provides property tax abatements (reductions) in specific zones designated to incentivize private investment and property improvements; 
• Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which would create a “TIF district,” that would use the country’s tax revenue to fund private infrastructure for Project Galaxy;  
• Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program, which can be constructed to cover the lack of taxes, with payments collected annually as a lump sum. 

States across the country have walked back or have floated proposals to end tax incentives meant to lure data center developers, including hot beds for the development like Virginia. Just last week, Ohio enacted a pause on state tax incentives following a report that the state lost out on over $555 million in revenue for 2024, and $1.6 billion in 2025 — 11 times more than originally projected. 

“Billion dollar tech companies are preying on rural communities to fund data center projects which provide little to no tangible benefits for nearby residents. They create little jobs and are drains on local resources. Ending tax incentives at the local and state levels are central to putting people over profits,” said Ben Murray, Senior Researcher for Food & Water Watch and author of the report. “The next step must be a data center moratorium at the local and state level to allow local officials the time to assess all impacts and consequences of a data center buildout.”

In October, Food & Water Watch became the first organization to call for a nationwide data center moratorium and hundreds of local, state, and national organizations have since joined the call.

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