Virginia Lawmakers Seek Budget Deal on Data Center Tax Exemption

Virginia Democratic lawmakers reconvening for a special session Thursday remain at loggerheads over whether to extend sales tax exemptions for data centers that have proliferated across the state.

Lawmakers are racing to find revenue to fund a fiscal year 2027-28 budget before a June 30 deadline. They ran out of time during the regular session, which ended in March, with big gaps between a Senate proposal to repeal the data center tax break by 2027 and a House plan to maintain the incentive through June 30, 2035, with additional restrictions.

As Virginia has grown into the largest data center market ...