Illinois lawmakers are debating whether to subsidize a new $2 billion stadium for the Bears. If that's not bad enough, the current proposal also creates a massive property tax cut program for wealthy developers that residents will have to pay for. itep.org/the-bears-bi...

“Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Oracle, they’re shedding jobs in real time while spending billions on data centers so other organizations can shed additional jobs through AI. At some point, people need to ask more critical questions,” GJF's Anthony Elmo told @theverge.com www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

It's bad enough the wealthy owners of the Chicago Bears want taxpayers to help fund their stadium, but the proposed mechanism to do that would give just about every other huge project massive, decades-long tax breaks. Our latest, with @itep.org, for Crains: www.chicagobusiness.com/opinion/comm...

Microsoft claims it wants to *add* to the tax base in communities where it seeks to puts data centers but then seeks massive tax breaks in communities where it seeks to puts data centers. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Tax breaks for data centers are becoming outrageously costly. 14 states and scores of localities across the U.S are losing even more by failing to be transparent about these costs.

We've updated our staff listing. 👀 Please meet Allan Freyer, our new executive director. goodjobsfirst.org/dr-allan-fre...

Our Violation Tracker update is live 🚀 New cases include: 🟥Albertsons to pay >$700m for its alleged role in the opioid crisis 🟥Wells Fargo settled two class actions lawsuits for $117m for fraudulent marketing & failing to meet retirement obligations violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/pages/data-v...

Announcing three sessions for the 2026 Strategic Labor Research Conference 📣 From analyzing ICE’s local consequences to uncovering hidden public subsidies, this lineup offers practical skills for researchers. 🚨 Applications close May 15 📝 Apply and learn more: irle.ucla.edu/research/ucl...

Kansas City: sign up now to join tonight’s community forum on developer giveaways and the attacks on our schools! tinyurl.com/4hr8y3rp

In addition to rising energy costs, residents are also giving huge companies money via massive tax breaks. States should end, or at a minimum pause, data center tax break programs to understand the full impact to budgets, energy bills, and our health. goodjobsfirst.org/data-center-...

Follow @goodjobsfirst.org for great coverage of data centers, tax breaks and gov. transparency. #WhoBenefits ? #NoMOdatacenters

Companies get a lot of credit for building data centers, and all the "billions" they're investing. But who really benefits? @kasia-t.bsky.social debunks some common myths around the tall tales Big Tech tells, often in the pursuit of massive taxpayer subsidies. goodjobsfirst.org/the-myths-of...

🚨NEW ANALYSIS🚨 14 states and scores of localities fail to disclose how much revenue they lose to data center tax breaks. Yet such losses are known to be soaring in states that do disclose, with three states already losing $1 billion or more per year. 🧵 goodjobsfirst.org/data-center-...

Data centers promise that billions they invest will help communities, but let’s be clear: those billions are private investments for private profits, not guaranteed benefits to the public. I wrote about this and other concerns I have about data center investments

“They come in under LLCs and code names, they insist on non-disclosure agreements...it just makes you ask, what are they hiding? And the answer is, it’s a bad deal.” Great take from @goodjobsfirst.org in @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/environment/...

Louisiana does not disclose how much revenue it loses through data center tax breaks. Many elected officials in the state also sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to prevent the public from knowing about plans to build future data centers. www.wwno.org/local-region... #lalege #lagov

In setting rules BEFORE allowing giant projects with unforeseen costs and potential harms, Maine takes a giant step forward in protecting its residents. #DataCenters goodjobsfirst.org/maine-morato...

"The share of Virginian voters who would be comfortable w/ construction of a new data center in their community has plunged to 35%...as worries mount in the state & across the nation that the projects are a scourge on the environment & household utility bills." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

"At a time when El Paso schools are facing tens in millions in deficits, does it make sense for the state of Texas to give up billions of dollars in tax revenue for data centers?" Good Jobs First's Anthony Elmo tells KTSM 9 News. www.ktsm.com/video/study-...

A federal jury found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states.

100+ journalists, including Cory Doctorow, Rachel Maddow and many more, are backing the Internet Archive’s #WaybackMachine as essential to preserving the public record 🗂️ Read more at Fight for the Future 👇 www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-04... 🧵⬇️ @fightforthefuture.org

In states where this info is available, @goodjobsfirst.org estimates that data centers collect between $1-$2 million in subsidies for each job they create.

Despite having good transparency on other economic development subsidy programs, North Carolina has closed the books on subsidies given to data centers. We call it out prominently in our latest report: goodjobsfirst.org/data-center-...

🚨NEW ANALYSIS🚨 14 states and scores of localities fail to disclose how much revenue they lose to data center tax breaks. Yet such losses are known to be soaring in states that do disclose, with three states already losing $1 billion or more per year. 🧵 goodjobsfirst.org/data-center-...

The Hidden Costs of Virginia’s Data Center Subsidy and How They Undermine Public Schools goodjobsfirst.org/th... @goodjobsfirst.org

For more info on corporate misconduct taking place in the UK - including by U.S. companies - explore our database: violationtrackeruk.goodjobsfirst.org

If states really want to create jobs, why not invest more in mom-and-pop businesses that don't need millions in subsidies per person??

🚨NEW🚨 Virginia’s sales and use tax breaks for data centers cost the Commonwealth over $1 billion in FY 2024, including an estimated $267 million that otherwise would have supported K–12 public schools, according to our new analysis: goodjobsfirst.org/the-hidden-c...

Virginia’s sales and use tax exemption for the data centers that fuel the AI industry’s huge windfalls for billionaires are now costing the state’s public school students $212 per year. @goodjobsfirst.org goodjobsfirst.org/virginias-da...

Last July, the Republican megabill (H.R. 1) enacted the deepest SNAP cuts in history. Today, we're releasing a tracker of how many people in each state are losing the SNAP benefits they need to afford groceries. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

In arguing to keep lucrative tax breaks for some of the world's richest companies, a data center trade group rep compares data centers to manufacturing facilities - but companies get Texans' money in exchange for creating as little as 20 jobs. www.texastribune.org/2026/04/08/t...

According to info from the Texas Senate, the cost of sales tax breaks given to data centers has exploded from an estimated $14.6 million for the 2014–15 biennium to a projected $3.3 billion for the 2028–29 biennium – an astounding 22,503% increase. goodjobsfirst.org/texass-data-...

Billionaires want us to think rampant data center construction is inevitable. Local opposition is proving them wrong. Shout-out to groups like @goodjobsfirst.org , CAC Indiana, and Piedmont Environmental Countil, who helped pave the way 💪

NEW: We dug into ICE contracts with Alabama ties. Here's what we found: state matches national trends of a ballooning budget and a concentrated marketplace A big thank you to @goodjobsfirst.org for their national report www.al.com/business/202...

According to info from the Texas Senate, the cost of sales tax breaks given to data centers has exploded from an estimated $14.6 million for the 2014–15 biennium to a projected $3.3 billion for the 2028–29 biennium – an astounding 22,503% increase. goodjobsfirst.org/texass-data-...

We are part of a coalition of organisations calling for three priorities for the Fair Work Agency: proper resourcing, safe reporting mechanisms and transparency Read the briefing:https://trustforlondon.org.uk/research/building-a-fair-work-agency-that-works-for-all/ #FairWorkAgency

Amazon workers have been very clear about what would *actually* make them happier at their jobs: better pay, less surveillance, and more safety measures. Instead, Amazon wants to pay them $1,000 to put on a happy face for their PR campaign. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

This article presents a false dichotomy: data centers create very few permanent jobs, and rather, than pay the same taxes the rest of us pay, these wealthy, profitable companies extract tax breaks so everyone else gets to pay for things like Jeff Bezos' yacht. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

🚨NEWS🚨 The board of directors of Good Jobs First announced that Dr. Allan Freyer has been hired as its new executive director. He will start on May 1, 2026. Freyer will take over for Greg LeRoy, who founded GJF in 1998 and has been its only executive director. goodjobsfirst.org/dr-allan-fre...

They always, always, always promise jobs. But few project agreements actually *require* good-paying, high-quality jobs and once built out, data centers need few jobs to run anyway.

Bombshell series about a little-known tax break costing Michiganders billions of dollars; it's far from clear there are any winners besides the wealthy companies pocketing the money. Some lawmakers say it's time to repeal the tax break, begun in 1965. www.bridgedetroit.com/michigan-hea...

"During the first 12 months of Trump 2.0, the EPA announced 586 civil penalty cases, well below the total of 889 cases during the final 12 months of Biden. The Trump cases entailed $722 million in penalties, which is vastly below the $3.2 billion total for the Biden cases during that period."

Join us 3/18 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, when we'll hear from city officials about how cities have increased engagement with communities around economic development incentives - and on a limited budget! Register here: bit.ly/modelwebinar

Join us 3/18 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, when we'll hear from city officials about how cities have increased engagement with communities around economic development incentives - and on a limited budget! Register here: bit.ly/modelwebinar

What does America mean to you? 🇺🇸 Participatory government, for starters. During #SunshineWeek, it’s worth remembering democracy works best when people can see how decisions are made and how public money is spent, to hold leaders accountable when it’s not. goodjobsfirst.org/what-does-am...

Not only is this Mississippi board allowing Elon Musk's xAI to pollute people’s air, it’s allowing the billionaire's company to get out of paying state and local taxes that otherwise would support schools, healthcare, infrastructure. www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...

A recent industry piece in @pilotonline.com argues Virginia must preserve its data center tax breaks to protect its “competitive edge.” But if lawmakers stop subsidizing some of the world’s richest companies, will data center companies really flee? The tl;dr: No. goodjobsfirst.org/virginias-da...

🚨NEW ANALYSIS 🚨 Public money for immigration enforcement is flowing to a small number of corporations with long regulatory rap sheets. Read our new report about the $4 billion per year (and growing!) private ICE contractor business: goodjobsfirst.org/ice-contract...

Excellent point, Utah resident Lionel Trepanier: “This is real. This is people’s lives. The choices are being made between, what? Childhood and maternity care and giving a subsidy to the biggest oil producer in Utah?” www.utahinvestigative.org/tax-credit-f...

🚨NEW ANALYSIS 🚨 Public money for immigration enforcement is flowing to a small number of corporations with long regulatory rap sheets. Read our new report about the $4 billion per year private ICE contractor business: goodjobsfirst.org/ice-contract...