The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin condemns the state’s multi-year campaign of handing out special tax breaks and favors to lure massive data centers—corporate welfare that picks winners at the expense of ordinary taxpayers.
Back in the 2023–25 budget, signed by Governor Tony Evers, the state carved out targeted sales and use tax exemptions specifically for qualifying data centers, lowering the bar for big tech giants while forcing Wisconsin families and small businesses to foot a larger share of the bill. Since then, the administration has aggressively marketed the state as a subsidized playground for hyperscale AI and data infrastructure projects.
Only now, as local communities push back against these schemes, has the public begun to see the full picture. Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) have kept residents in the dark during backroom negotiations, shielding crony deals from scrutiny.
State Senator Mark Spreitzer’s Senate Bill 969 attempts to curb some of this secrecy by limiting NDAs that hide data center details from the public. Yet it’s striking hypocrisy: the very political forces that pushed through these preferential tax exemptions are now scrambling to limit the fallout from the secrecy they enabled.
Libertarians reject all forms of corporate welfare and government favoritism. The state has no legitimate role in granting special tax privileges, infrastructure handouts, or regulatory carve-outs to favored industries. Such interventions distort free markets, reward politically connected corporations, and burden everyday Wisconsinites with higher taxes or hidden utility costs.
We demand:
• An immediate halt to all special tax exemptions and subsidies for data centers—no more picking winners with taxpayer money.
• Full repeal of the 2023 data center tax breaks and a clear public accounting of every dollar in foregone revenue handed to these corporations.
• Restoration of genuine local control over zoning, land use, and community impacts—without state overrides or sweetheart deals.
• Strict protection from any forced subsidization of private infrastructure through utility rates or other backdoor mechanisms.
Economic growth must come from voluntary exchange in a free market, not from government rigging the game for big players. Wisconsin citizens deserve a level playing field, not crony capitalism disguised as “development.” Secrecy and special favors have no place in a freesociety—end the corporate handouts now.