Arizona lawmakers recently changed the state’s tax code to allow tax benefits for data centers. These tax benefits will aid in Arizona’s economic development, while simultaneously strengthening Arizona’s existing economy.
“This is a huge win for the state of Arizona,” stated Russell Smoldon, CEO of B3 strategies. “With the new tax incentives we will see more and more data centers locating to Arizona, thus boosting our economy.”
In order to qualify for the tax benefits, data centers that are new to the state must invest $50 million in urban areas or $25 million in rural areas.
Companies with data centers already in the state will also qualify for the tax benefits if they have invested $250 million or more over the past six years.
The data center bill was moved along with the help of legislators and companies such as B3 Strategies and the Arizona Data Center Coalition. Both groups continually strive to strengthen Arizona through strong public policy.
“B3 Strategies originally partnered with the Arizona Data Center Coalition back in September with the hopes of strengthening the Arizona economy. Now just nine months later, we have succeeded in that goal,” stated Smoldon.
B3 Strategies was created in order to develop and implement public policy strategy at the local, state and federal level. Some of the clients that stand to benefit from the tax breaks are data centers such as Microsoft, e-Bay, Digital Reality Trust, Cyrus One, Phoenix NAP and Nextfort. The new tax benefits are set to take effect on August 31, 2013.