Overview

Good Jobs First is the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies. The organization has become a key voice in datacenter opposition, focusing specifically on the tax incentive component of datacenter deals and the lack of transparency surrounding these subsidies.

As of April 2026, Good Jobs First has published multiple reports on datacenter tax breaks, filed comments on proposed state incentives, and provided testimony on federal moratorium bills. The organization’s analytical focus on subsidy ineffectiveness has become a central argument in the opposition movement.

Organizational Mission and Focus

Core mission: Promote accountability and transparency in government subsidy programs; oppose wasteful corporate welfare; advocate for subsidies that genuinely serve public interest.

Founded: 1997

Historical focus: Economic development tax incentives (property tax abatements, sales tax exemptions, job creation credits) across all industries; manufacturing, auto, retail, aerospace.

Pivot to datacenters: Beginning 2024–2025, Good Jobs First elevated datacenters to a priority research and advocacy focus, recognizing the scale and speed of subsidies flowing to the industry.

Key Research and Publications

“Cloudy Data, Costly Deals” Report

Good Jobs First published “Cloudy Data, Costly Deals: How Poorly States Disclose Data Center Subsidies”, analyzing state-level datacenter subsidy disclosure practices.

Key findings:

  • Disclosure gaps: 14 states fail to publicly report datacenter tax breaks, making it impossible for citizens to know costs
  • High costs: Georgia, Virginia, Texas each report losing $1 billion or more per year to datacenter subsidies
  • Cumulative national cost: Estimated at $10+ billion cumulatively since 2010 (methodology and exact figures vary)
  • No accountability: Most states do not track whether job promises are met or recover subsidies if companies fail to deliver

Virginia Transparency Audit

Good Jobs First conducted a detailed audit of Virginia datacenter deals, finding:

  • Nondisclosure agreements prevent public knowledge of deal terms
  • Tax incentives are frequently granted without public hearings or legislative approval
  • Economic impact claims are unverified: Proponents claim jobs and tax revenue; actual impacts are not systematically tracked
  • Recommendation: Virginia should require public disclosure of all datacenter deals, job commitments, and subsidy amounts; implement clawback provisions if targets are missed

National Subsidy Tracker Database

Good Jobs First maintains the Subsidy Tracker, a searchable database of government financial incentives for business. The database includes:

  • Datacenter tax breaks by state and company
  • Estimated subsidy amounts
  • Job creation commitments
  • Project locations and status

Public access: The Subsidy Tracker is open to the public and has become a key resource for journalists, researchers, and policymakers studying subsidy effectiveness.

Tactical Approach: Subsidy Elimination vs. Reform

Good Jobs First advocates for one of two approaches to datacenter subsidies:

Approach 1: Eliminate Subsidies Entirely

Argument: “Hyperscale datacenters are extremely profitable businesses. They will build datacenters in the United States regardless of subsidies. Tax breaks are corporate welfare.”

Evidence cited:

  • Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon have announced major buildout plans independent of specific state incentives
  • Datacenters locate in specific areas based on fiber access, power availability, and land costs, not primarily tax breaks
  • Companies often demand subsidies because they’re available, not because they’re necessary for project viability

Policy recommendation: Repeal all datacenter tax breaks immediately. Redirect revenue to schools, healthcare, infrastructure.

Approach 2: Reform Subsidy Design

Alternative argument: “If states are going to offer incentives, they should be designed to serve public interest and include accountability.”

Key reforms:

  • Transparency: Publish all deal terms, tax break amounts, and job commitments
  • Clawback provisions: If company fails to meet job targets or facility shuts down, it must repay subsidies
  • Performance metrics: Track actual jobs created, taxes generated, wage levels
  • Community benefit agreements: Facility should fund local schools, roads, environmental mitigation
  • Environmental conditions: Tax breaks should be conditioned on meeting environmental standards (water, air, emissions)

Implementation: Embed these reforms in state law; apply to all future datacenter deals.

Campaign Activities and Legislative Testimony

Moratorium Bill Testimony

Good Jobs First provided testimony to state legislatures on proposed datacenter moratorium bills (Maine, New York, Illinois, Colorado, others). Key testimony message:

“Even if you don’t enact a moratorium, at minimum, you must require transparency and accountability for datacenter subsidies.”

Report Distribution and Media

Good Jobs First uses:

  • Media outreach: Press releases, media interviews, op-eds in national and regional outlets
  • Direct advocacy: Meetings with state legislators and staff
  • Research sharing: Reports are published on organization website and shared with advocacy networks

Coalition Coordination

Good Jobs First is part of broader opposition coalitions:

  • Food & Water Watch coalition: Member of 230+ group letter calling for federal moratorium
  • State coalitions: Works with local environmental groups in Virginia, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and other states to advocate for transparency and clawback rules
  • Think tank partnerships: Coordinates with progressive economic think tanks on subsidy reform

Funding and Organizational Capacity

Funding Sources

Good Jobs First is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by:

  • Philanthropic foundations: Progressive and labor-oriented foundations supporting economic justice and transparency work
  • Member donations: Individual supporters
  • Specific grants: Some datacenter research may be grant-funded by foundations with environmental or economic justice mandates

Organizational Capacity

As of April 2026:

  • Policy and research staff: Economists, policy analysts, database managers
  • Communications: Media outreach and public education team
  • Advocacy: Staff for legislative engagement and coalition coordination
  • Estimated total staff: 20–40 FTE (nonprofit staff scale)

Linkages to Other Opposition Groups

Good Jobs First works with:

  • Food & Water Watch: Joint advocacy in 230+ group moratorium coalition
  • Public Citizen: Coordination on utility rate and subsidy issues in Texas and other states
  • Environmental groups: Partnership with Sierra Club, NRDC on local campaigns
  • Labor unions: Joint advocacy on job quality and wage issues
  • Progressive think tanks: Data and analysis partnerships

Analytical Contribution to Opposition Movement

Good Jobs First has reframed the datacenter debate around:

  1. Subsidy ineffectiveness: “Why are we paying profitable companies to build facilities they were going to build anyway?”

  2. Public accountability: “Taxpayers have a right to know what tax breaks are granted in their name and whether promised jobs materialize.”

  3. Opportunity cost: “Billions in foregone tax revenue could fund schools, healthcare, roads, green energy transition.”

  4. Regional competition: “States are in a race-to-the-bottom, offering larger and larger tax breaks to win projects, while communities bear environmental costs.”

These arguments have resonated across political constituencies (conservatives skeptical of corporate welfare, progressives concerned about equity and environmental justice).

Limitations and Challenges

  1. Subsidy spending is hard to stop: State and local governments are invested in economic development spending; powerful business interests lobby for subsidies.

  2. Data gaps: Incomplete disclosure makes it difficult to quantify total subsidy costs; some states reveal very little.

  3. Political headwinds: In many states, pro-business legislatures resist transparency or clawback requirements.

  4. Measurement challenges: Determining “counterfactual” (would facility have been built without subsidy?) is methodologically difficult; companies naturally claim subsidies were necessary.

Key Takeaways

  1. Good Jobs First is the expert voice on subsidy analysis in the datacenter opposition movement. Other groups rely on their research and data.

  2. Transparency is a more achievable near-term goal than elimination of all subsidies. Forcing disclosure changes the political calculus.

  3. Subsidy tracker database is a public resource that journalists and activists use to document corporate welfare.

  4. Clawback provisions are a key policy innovation: Conditioning tax breaks on meeting performance targets creates accountability.

  5. Subsidy critique applies across partisan lines: Both conservative anti-corporate-welfare voices and progressive economic justice advocates can support transparency and clawback reforms.

  6. Subsidy elimination is ideal but politically difficult: Good Jobs First advocates for elimination, but recognizes that transparency/clawbacks may be the practical first step.

Sources