Facebook Wins Oregon Tax Break

Governor John Kitzhaber (D-OR) was scheduled to sign into law a so-called “Facebook bill” that assesses big data centers in Oregon for taxes on their local value, not on intangible assets like their national brand.

The signing will take place at Facebook’s 333,400 square foot data center, located in Prineville (OR). With this bill in place, Facebook is likely to build a second big data center at the site, which is a showcase for the company. It is Facebook’s marquee “green” data center, using innovative cooling techniques to conserve energy. More important, the big public platform enables Facebook to push its Open Data Center Alliance strategy. By open sourcing computer technology in the data center, Facebook can to drive down its computing costs.