Wednesday 24th April 2024

Iowa Senate President Jack Chapman says if a court rules companies like Facebook and Google have illegally stifled the free speech of Iowans, those companies should lose all state and local tax breaks.

Facebook and Google have data centers — so-called server farms — in Iowa. Chapman says those companies were awarded tax credits and property tax exemptions, plus a big break on electricity.

Amazon is rebuilding a warehouse in Bondurant. Apple is set to receive 200-million dollars in state and local tax breaks for a data center in Waukee — a site that’s in Chapman’s senate district.

Twenty-eight other Republicans in the Senate have signed on to co-sponsor Chapman’s bill. However, Majority Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny, the top Republican in the Senate, is not among them.