The question of tax incentives connected to the proposed $10 billion EverWind data centre campus is drawing two very different responses from the provincial and municipal levels of government.
EverWind announced the now contentious data centre to be located in Point Tupper, Richmond County.
During the technical briefing, ahead of the October 16 announcement, EverWind projected $400 million dollars in municipal taxes over the span of a 20 year lease with the AI company, now known to be Anthropic.
Following a cabinet meeting on October 29, Nova Scotia Finance Minister John Lohr said the province has not provided tax breaks or other incentives for the EverWind project.
However, Lohr has said, “We wouldn’t rule it out.”
Lohr says one type of incentive the province typically uses is a payroll rebate program where a company could become eligible for a rebate after a certain number of years, if it meets requirements related to employee numbers.
He says a project of this size would have a significant economic impact but indicated that a detailed provincial economic analysis would come later in the approval process.
Although Lohr did not elaborate on any other types of incentives, Richmond County Warden Lois Landry says the county would not entertain a property tax break for the project.
During the October 27 Council meeting, Landry commented on whether the county would be open to rebates or exemptions involving property tax revenue.
Her response was unequivocal.
“We have had questions about would we be open to any kind of rebates or exemptions on property tax revenue? The answer to that is no, it’s a free country, they can ask, dreams are free, but we would never agree to that”, says Landry.
