Lawmakers say Microsoft is cashing in on the tax exemption they provided this year.
The company is expanding its data center in Quincy and building a new center there, House Republicans said in a news release this week.
In bipartisan votes, the Legislature allowed technology companies building their server farms in rural parts of Washington to pay no sales tax on equipment.
They expected the break to be used by companies like Microsoft in communities like Quincy, which was a hot spot for data centers a few years ago but saw construction drop off after a ruling that a state tax break for rural manufacturers didn’t apply to data centers.
Pat Boss, spokesman for the Port of Quincy, confirmed that Microsoft shovels are turning.
About four or five other companies looking for sites for data centers have come to scout the area since the tax break passed, Boss said. And Sabey, which owns property in Quincy, could start construction on a facility in the next few months.
“You’ve got Microsoft expanding, you could likely have Sabey building, and then you likely could have a couple of other projects coming in, (all) because of this tax bill,” he said.
Jordan Schrader, staff writer
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