Ohio Republican Urges Data Center to Forgo Tax Subsidy

Ohio state senator Bernie Moreno has urged the backers of a $136m data center to forgo tax subsidies tied to its planned expansion. In a public letter on Monday, he argued that the economic benefits of expanding the Ark Data Centers campus do not justify the subsidies.

The expansion would create 10 jobs, while subsidies approved in early March would let Ark pay half the sales tax on equipment for 10 years. This would result in about $4.5 million in forgone tax revenue.

“While I applaud companies that choose to expand their presence in Ohio, the financing for this deal is unjustified… That is ridiculous when you consider what $4.5 million could do for Ohio families instead,” reads the letter.

Ark currently operates two small 10,000 sq ft (929 sqm) facilities in Akron, each offering 1MW of capacity.

“That’s money that could go toward schools, roads, or helping the communities hit hardest by rising costs – not padding the profits of a firm that’s already swimming in cash,” said the senator.

Moreno is referring to Ark’s owner, the prominent private equity firm The Carlyle Group.

Carlyle bought Ark Data Centers back in May 2024, back when the data center firm was known as Involta.

“So why are hardworking Ohio taxpayers being asked to subsidize a project that creates so few jobs while a global equity powerhouse gets a free ride?

“I urge Carlyle to do the right thing: voluntarily give up this $4.5 million subsidy, immediately sign onto President Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, and commit to creating more jobs through the data center expansion."

In early March, seven major tech companies—Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon—signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, committing to measures that protect ratepayers from data center-related price increases.