Data Centers and More

Daily Digest 4/15/26

Happy Tax Day! Hopefully you kept as much of your money as is possible. Remember that tax avoidance is the duty of every patriotic American. (Tax evasion, on the other hand, is a crime!)

One of the many things your taxes pay for is data centers—at least indirectly, through tax credits and exemptions. There’s been a lot of talk about data centers recently so I decided to do a brief dive into how they work, their history, and what they mean for Idaho:

The debate over data centers is about more than water or electricity—it’s about governance. Local governments control land use, but the impacts of large data centers extend far beyond county lines, affecting regional power systems and shared water resources. As projects grow in size, states like Idaho are beginning to assert more control over how those resources are used, even as local communities remain the front line for approval and opposition.

Senator Risch lauds lower taxes

Sen. Jim Risch sent out a short piece for Tax Day:

This legislation delivered the largest-ever tax cut to working-class households in U.S. history and will save the average Idahoan $3,517 in federal taxes this year.

We eliminated taxes on tips and overtime, expanded the Child Tax Credit, made the small business tax deduction permanent, and provided relief for seniors on Social Security.

We aren’t done yet. I’ll continue working to lower taxes for Idaho families and scrutinize every federal budget to ensure our taxpayer dollars are used responsibly.

It’s been a pretty quiet week other than that. I’ll keep you posted with newsletters, op-eds, local voices, and press releases. There some interesting threads I’m pulling following my article last week on tax dollars for HIV+ illegal aliens, so stay tuned for that.

Thanks as always to sponsors New Saint Andrews College, Lynn Bradescu’s Boise Realty, Money Metals, and the iLuvIdaho Voter Guide. Thanks also to all of you for supporting this work!