In a recent survey, most economists said Ohio’s tax abatements are an effective way to attract AI data centers to the Buckeye State, but many also questioned the desirability of doing so. They were more split on the economic benefits of making data centers generate their own electricity.

There has been a swift, sharp backlash against data centers this year as projects have been rammed through without community input, electricity bills have shot up, and workers fear mass displacement by the technology. And there are worries about how artificial intelligence will reshape the jobs that remain.

As huge and growing numbers of Americans find it harder to simply pay their bills, the backlash has also been directed against a political system in which monied interests seem to have all the power.

In Ohio, anger against data centers built in June when the public learned that former Gov. John Kasich had granted some of the richest tech companies in the world billions in taxpayer incentives that would last 40 years.

Scioto Analysis surveyed 37 Ohio economists about data centers, including asking whether taxpayer incentives are an effective way to attract them. Twenty three said they were — although several expressed doubts about whether that’s a good thing.

“I think that [tax abatements] are effective for attracting the data centers,” Curtis Reynolds of Kent State University wrote in the comment section of the survey. “That does not mean that I think they are a good idea. Tax abatements become a race to the bottom and as communities fight for businesses. In the case of data centers, there will be little employment gains for the local community so the economic benefits of these tax abatements seem dodgy at best.” … READ MORE…