One Solution to Data Centers? Tax the Rich.

A new fire house. Injections of cash into schools. New energy infrastructure that will help prevent outages in a place known for some of the worst outages in the US. These are all things data center developers have promised to Michigan residents as “community benefits” when approaching small township boards and elected officials.

Data centers (DCs) are surging in Michigan due to recent tax breaks exempting a multi-trillion dollar industry from paying use or sales tax. Passed under a Democratic trifecta last December, it diverts an estimated $90 million from public coffers. DCs are the supercomputers that host data—used for artificial intelligence, military surveillance, and cryptocurrency. Data centers require astounding amounts of land, water, and energy; communities all over the world are fighting them—and in some cases, winning.

The data center fight represents at least two layered crises: the absolute desperation of local governments to get revenue, and the control of corporations on the functions of democracy. The fight demonstrates the lack of procedural entry points for public input on where DCs are located or how they are regulated—as they suck up water and energy and foist the costs on the public. Doubly highlighted is the confluence of politics and monied power; concentration of wealth; and how Big Tech is reshaping our landscapes and politics. 

The flood of opposition to data centers is a strategic opportunity to organize—across issues, left and right, rural and urban—to reclaim rights to economic and political power in the age of climate catastrophe. The data center fight shows why two ballot measures in Michigan—Invest in MI Kids, and Money Out of Politics—are key levers of tactical alignment against a big tech–fossil fuel marriage in 2026.

The situationship with data centers

On October 30, 2025 Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a $7 billion hyperscale data center facility in Saline, Michigan. The facility, owned by OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital, was touted as an economic boon for the state.

The facility will bring $14 million in “benefits” to the local township, but only after a 50% local tax abatement. The Saline Post reported that, in an August presentation on rezoning the land needed, developer Related Digital stated the DC would generate $8 million a year for Saline Area Schools, a claim that was later debunked by David Arsen, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy and Educational Administration at Michigan State University.

Despite the purported “benefits,” local residents did not want it—and in response to their pushback, the township board voted it down. Despite this, Related Digital, owned by University of Michigan (UM) mega-donor and billionaire Steven Ross, sued the Township, purportedly “bullying” them into a settlement.

To add insult to injury, monopoly investor-owned utility DTE Energy requested an ex parte approval for the energy infrastructure buildout, essentially skipping scrutiny of intervening parties before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). This prompted Attorney General Dana Nessel to step in to oppose. Despite receiving over 5,000 comments, the MPSC approved it anyway.

In a small community in West Michigan, Benton Harbor State Legislator Joey Andrews (Democrat) welcomed data center developers as promises were being made to local school board officials. Andrews and Berrien County Commissioner Chokwe Pitchford told Benton Harbor school board trustees “that the school district could receive $21 million annually in property taxes.”

As a product of this political and economic alignment, rural and peri-urban communities in Michigan are getting hit hard with data centers’ rapid deployment. Places like Howell, Michigan; Augusta Township; Ypsilanti Township; Benton County; and Pavilion Township are fighting against their proliferation, with the decision coming down to zoning boards. Over and over again, schools are being used as the logic for approving data centers.

Opacity is plaguing the process. In Ypsilanti Township, a small town down the road from campus, the University of Michigan partnered with Los Alamos National Laboratory to build a 100MW data center. In signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), the parties left the public and even the Township Supervisor, Brenda Stumbo, in the dark. Leaked emails show that she felt “misled.” The neighboring Ypsilanti City Council passed a resolution decrying the use of the data center for nuclear development, “which affirmed the city’s commitment to peace and its opposition to the proposed Los Alamos and UM data center.” In Virginia, the epicenter of data center growth, researchers found that 80% of data centers are covered by NDAs, meaning that even if the local officials request information, they don’t have a right to it.

MediaJustice has documented how across the US, data centers have been found to accelerate energy bill inflation, hamper local watersheds, and create enormous light and sound pollution. Bloomberg News recently reported that in places where DCs have located, energy costs have ballooned 256%. While many Michigan data centers are being located in places that have middle-incomes, the potential for rising energy costs will hit poor consumers hardest.

Ballots over Billionaires

Perhaps why data centers and their investments seem so appealing is they can potentially plug a billionaire-shaped hole in local budgets. At the crux of divested water, energy, transit, housing, and health is the severe lack of tax revenue. Cities, counties, and townships are scrambling to fund public services, and none more evident than public schools.

In Michigan, education has taken a major hit over the last decades. 482Forward is the lead organization running Invest in MI Kids, a ballot measure that would raise taxes 5% on individuals who make over $500,000 and couples who make over $1 million a year. The funds would be directly deposited to the School Aid Fund, which centrally distributes Michigan’s school tax revenue.

It’s a critical intervention as the Michigan Public Education system, after two decades of deep disinvestment, just finally only reached 2005 levels of investment. A 2019 Michigan State University study found that Michigan ranks dead last in total education revenue growth for children in K–12. When compounded by the slashing of educational resources at the federal level, you have a full-blown crisis for public educational systems. But it is the school kids who suffer. This is reflected in state math and science scores, hitting minority districts hardest, placing Michigan schools in the bottom ten in the nation. Michigan now ranks 44^th in 4^th grade reading in the nation.

Invest in Michigan Kids

The Michigan education crisis is further deepened by the regressive tax structures in the state. Right now, the top 1% of Michigan income earners pay only 5.7% in taxes, while those families earning between $42,000–125,000 pay 9.7%. The regressive tax structures suffocate public resources, a fact that Democrats and Republicans in this state have not had the courage to address. Both sides of the aisle have prioritized corporations and wealthy individuals at the expense of our schools, infrastructure, and water; evident in giving data centers tax breaks, and not our schools.

Invest in Michigan Kids has mobilized 2,000 volunteer team members to collect signatures, and they are aiming to achieve 400,000 signatures by the end of February. This campaign is an evolution from the Babies Over Billionaires campaign launched by the Michigan Education Justice Coalition in 2018 to raise new revenue by taxing the wealthy in Michigan for our public schools. In 2026, there is an urgency to collect the signatures; core leadership has counted about 120,000. 

Key to making this happen is the regional strategy driven by the Invest in Michigan Kids steering committee, gathering endorsements and identifying key choke points and opportunities. Each week, through the record cold Michigan winter, those volunteers are locating places to stay warm and identify supporters. Key partnership roles are held by organizers in Democratic Socialists of America and the Movement Voter Project.

But this—revenue organizing—is a new skill in Michigan. Community groups and non-profit organizations have spent a decade mobilizing on key policy issues and legislative fights. But funders are likely still nervous to fund public revenue campaigns to tax the rich, and to take big risks on costly ballot initiatives. 

The ballot is proving a key stress test for unions, the Democratic Party, and the non-profit sector on deeply-felt progressive issues. Because—while Michiganders are highly attached to nostalgia and support of public schools—opposition from the Chamber of Commerce and school privateers like Betsy DeVos (who calls Michigan home) are undermining the campaign with “business first” ideals and anti-tax propaganda.

In February, Invest in MI Kids will hold a blitz for signatures under the banner “Love Beats Greed.” It will be two weeks of sustained action activating Michigan volunteers to don red and hit the streets. Regional organizations will be hosting training sessions to activate a $2 million grant, contingent on achieving the 400,000 signature mark. And Invest in MI Kids needs your help.

Ballot initiatives like Invest in MI Kids seek to root out the incentives for local governments to accept major industries’ promises of benefits, despite downstream pressures on other systems. Though this initiative won’t solve all the problems of local finance, it takes a hard look at the drivers of public divestments and seeks to reclaim revenue for the common good beyond state partisan politics and lobbying.

MOP up Michigan

Which leads us to the second major ballot push in Michigan: Michigan Money Out of Politics (MI MOP). MI MOP seeks to limit campaign financing in Michigan from corporate actors by banning regulated utilities and corporations with government contracts from making political contributions.

It strikes at a problem long seen in Michigan: special interests—specifically monopoly-owned utilities and fossil fuel giants DTE Energy and Consumers Energy paying politicians.

Lil’ Sis has done extensive research on DTE Energy. Between 2019–2022, DTE Energy’s employee, board member, and PAC contributions totaled $2.4 million to political candidates across parties. During that period, 140 of 146 members of the Michigan legislature were supported by the utility giants. In 2023, the Energy and Policy Institute found that DTE Energy paid 100 legislators $176k in the wake of massive power outages.

Industry analysts who track these trends claim that DTE Energy participates in “astroturfing,” the practice of promoting sustainability in environmental practices while using industry front groups to support expansion of fossil fuels and to lobby against environmental and climate regulation. InfluenceMap shows that, at least on policy engagement, DTE Energy participates in high levels with the American Gas Association, chambers of commerce, and others.

The MOP up Michigan campaign seeks to overcome the issue of money in politics by collecting 356,958 valid signatures within 180 days to get the proposal on the November 2026 ballot.

Ballots against billionaires

Data centers are offering local governments a dream: shiny schools, new firehouses, and a flood of dollars for public expenditures—things we all want and need. But in exchange, these risky investments are displacing water, ballooning energy consumption, and denying information to the public about their AI operations, all while potentially running us off the climate cliff. These are trade-offs that leave local officials between a rock and a hard place when revenue is dwindling.

The question remains: when contending with the powerful confluence of Big Tech and energy monopolies, how can people take back democratic power? Scholar Ben Case argues that ballot initiatives can transcend party politics with astounding success. His 2022 report states: “When people-first policies—which we will call egalitarian—are put before voters directly, they frequently win, and often with substantial majorities, even in conservative-leaning districts, and even where state leaders are hostile to these policies.” Given the swing in 2025 elections, the American electorate may be primed for a more redistributive political environment.

American voters clapped back with resounding power in November 2025 elections, winning efforts across the country that show one thing: they’re tired of billionaires stealing from public coffers.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy offers that Colorado passed two ballots to protect school meals for all kids, and to help fund SNAP benefits. Illinois passed a $1.5 billion transit bill to fund public transit in the Chicago area. Pennsylvania introduced the “Tax Billionaires, Fund PA” plan to generate $4 billion in new revenue.

Instead of rolling out the red carpet for tech billionaires’ pet projects, and endangering the Great Lakes—one of the most precious of our world’s resources—what if we tax the rich and limit their influence on lawmakers?