Oregon created a tax break for Google Fiber – but Comcast may be the big winner

Comcast has created a new class of hyper-fast Internet service it acknowledges almost nobody needs. And it charges a price few would pay. What the new "Gigabit Pro" service does accomplish, according to Comcast, is make the company eligible for millions of dollars in state tax breaks. Those exemptions were written in 2015 with Google Fiber in mind, for companies that bring very fast Internet service to Oregon. Comcast argues it qualifies, too, by virtue of its obscure new service. Oregon cities are crying foul, but the staff of the Oregon Public Utility Commission says Comcast meets the letter of the broadly written law – even if hardly anyone signs up for a service critics say would cost subscribers $4,600 in the first year alone. State utility regulators will vote on Comcast's application March 1, with "tens of millions" of dollars on the line, according to local government officials who hope to block the company's pending tax break and preserve a revenue stream they fought for years to keep.