Virginia Democrats are divided over a tax break for data centers, sending the state’s budget negotiations into overtime.
For their first year back in unified control of Virginia’s government, Democrats gaveled the Legislature out of session Saturday without passing a budget. Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she would call lawmakers back on April 23 for a special session to pass a spending plan.
The heart of the disagreement is the tax break that helped make Virginia into the world capital of data centers: a sales and use tax exemption for the expensive equipment that runs data centers, worth about $1.8 billion over the next two fiscal years.
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The state Senate wants to end that incentive, while House leaders and Spanberger hope to preserve it.
