States across America have given away the kitchen sink to recruit data centers, and people are pissed.
They should be.
For years, politicians have offered Big Tech tax abatements, cheap power and taxpayer-funded infrastructure. Then they cut a ribbon and tell everybody what a great deal they made.
They get the headlines. Big Tech gets the tax break. Families get the bill.
Well, here’s a new headline: When I am governor, data centers will pay for everything.
Look, this isn’t college football, and there’s no NIL deal here.
Here’s my message to data centers: If you want to use our resources, you pay full taxes, cover the total cost of your energy, and replace what you take. We’ll welcome you with open arms, but keep your hands out of our pockets.
I’ve also got a message for Alabamians. Remember when people said the internet was just a fad? Well, AI ain’t coming, folks. AI is here. America—not Communist China—needs to lead it, and I want Alabama at the front.
Don’t think Alabama can lead? Follow the I-65 corridor from Rocket City in the north, to UAB and then Airbus down south. Alabama is already leading. CBRE just ranked Huntsville the number-one up-and-coming techtalent market in North America. Space Command is moving its headquarters to Redstone Arsenal, joining NASA in Rocket City. Toyota’s Huntsville plant—the company’s largest engine producer in North America— assembles nearly one million engines every year.
And our state has the land, power and water these companies need.
Federal data show that Alabama is energy-rich, with the generation and transmission capacity to fuel our progress into the future. Alabama is also one of America’s most water-rich states. An estimated 10 percent of the freshwater resources in the continental United States originates in or flows through Alabama.
These companies are already standing at the door. We shouldn’t have to pay them to come inside.
No more tax abatements. No more tax incentives.
If you want to come to Alabama, you pay full price.
Here’s my game plan in four simple plays.
First, local communities will decide whether a data center is right for them.
This is non-negotiable for me.
A project that works in one community may be wrong for another. Local residents understand their roads, water, schools and neighborhoods better than bureaucrats or corporate executives. Private property rights matter, but so do the rights of neighboring property owners.
If a community wants a data center and the company agrees to play by Alabama’s rules, we should welcome the investment.
But as governor, I’ll work for the people of Alabama, not Big Tech. If your community says no, my answer is no.
Second, data centers will pay the total cost of the transmission lines, substations and water systems they require.
Alabama families will not pay the bills so a billion-dollar company can operate for less.
The same rule applies to power. Alabama Power has committed to me that rates will remain frozen through 2029, but I intend to extend that freeze. Power companies stand to make a lot of money selling electricity to data centers. We must protect Alabama ratepayers while new facilities are built.
Third, data centers must replace the power and water capacity they take.
They can build their own power generation or pay into a fund that expands Alabama’s energy capacity and lowers costs for our people. Data centers should leave Alabama’s infrastructure stronger than they found it.
That’s why I say: Build what you need. Replace what you take.
Fourth, we will place data centers in Alabama’s highest property-tax bracket where they should be.
Our property-tax system was written for a different time when railroads and telegraphs dominated. Today’s data centers are as important to modern communications as Bell System switching stations were in the last century. Yet Alabama taxes data centers the same way it taxes a rental house.
That makes no sense.
We are going to bring Alabama’s tax system into the 21st century and classify these operations accordingly, charging data centers the highest level.
That new revenue will not become another excuse for government to expand and spend more money either. I’m working too hard to consolidate government and cut spending in Montgomery. I want to use this new revenue to improve career-tech programs in our schools, strengthen law enforcement, and cut taxes on Alabama families.
I am all for Big Tech competing and making money. That is capitalism. But like any good partnership, Alabama taxpayers will get their share of the profits.
D.C. Doug has no plan and wants to stick his head in the sand with a moratorium. Others want to keep handing out taxpayer money and hope Alabama gets a good deal.
Both approaches are wrong.
We can approve the best projects, reject the bad ones, and make sure Alabama gets its fair share. Communities across America have used data-center revenue to improve schools, lower utility bills and reduce taxes. Alabama can do the same—if we stop giving everything away.
Think about this. A $12 billion data center project, assessed in the highest tax bracket, with no abatements and taxed at Alabama’s average combined millage rate, would generate more than $150 million in property taxes its first year.
That is more than Alabama appropriates from the State General Fund to operate the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency for an entire year.
Now you understand why I think we can cut taxes and reduce power costs.
If you want to play in Alabama, you pay full price. No abatements. No giveaways. No special treatment. No free rides.
You pay full taxes. You pay your own bills. You replace what you take. And you respect the people who live here.
That’s my “Welcome to Alabama”—Coach Style.
