Tiffany vows to end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin

By Jon Styf
The Center Square

Wisconsin congressman and candidate for governor Tom Tiffany said that he will “end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin” if he becomes governor.

Tiffany was responding to a video highlighting both proposed increased energy rates and the many tax exemptions for Wisconsin data centers.

As governor, I will end subsidies for data centers in Wisconsin. https://t.co/ZglSs88x8w— Tom Tiffany (@TomTiffanyWI) April 4, 2026

We Energies is proposing a 14% increase in energy prices over two years after multiple energy increases were approved by the Public Service Commission last year.

Along with increased energy rates, Wisconsin qualified data centers do not pay sales tax on construction materials, equipment inside the buildings and electricity. Many are also built as part of tax increment districts, meaning the increased property taxes paid once the data center is built don’t go to public entities but are kept by the data center companies.

The sales tax exemption was part of the 2023-25 budget passed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature and then approved by Gov. Tony Evers. Exemptions to allow the data centers to be part of TIDs despite going over a statewide mandated cap of 12% of a local entities property value being placed in a TID were proposed by Republican lawmakers and signed by Evers.

The Center Square has reported that the sales tax exemptions have already far exceeded projections with $70 million in forgone sales tax in the first two years of that program with that number expected to multiply in coming years as data center projects in Mount Pleasant, Verona, Beaver Dam and Port Washington have been certified by the state to be eligible for the sales tax exemption.

Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue estimated the value of the incentives would be $8.5 million for the full multi-year construction of a facility and $735,000 recurring afterward. The department attributed the estimates to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that a typical data center costs about $215.5 million to construct.

But many of the Wisconsin data centers are much more expensive, with Microsoft announcing a second data center in Mount Pleasant that will cost $4 billion.

“The state budget accounted only for regular data centers, not hyperscale like the Microsoft one you have in Wisconsin,” Good Jobs First Senior Research Analyst Kasia Tarczynska previously told The Center Square. “Therefore, the cost estimates in the tax expenditure report might be way higher than what they predicted in the budget in 2023.”

Data center incentives have shown to be unpopular with voters as 69% of Wisconsin voters in a recent Marquette poll said that they believe that the cost of data centers outweigh the benefits.

Several bills looking to limit the impact of data centers on energy rates and one looking to block non-disclosure agrees that was backed by comedian Charlie Berens was discussed but did not pass the Legislature before session closed.