They subsidized the swarm and called it growth. Soft power, if soft power is a tax code that treats a data center like a public good and a utility bill like a personality quiz.<\/p>\n
On Monday, September 28, 2026, CNBC reported that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other Senate Democrats sent letters \u2014 shared Sunday night \u2014 to the CEOs of Meta, Google (Alphabet), Amazon, and Microsoft seeking information on tax subsidies for AI and data-center development they say were authorized by the 2025 GOP-led tax-and-spending package commonly called the \u201cone big beautiful bill.\u201d Soft power is not a nickname that fits on a bumper sticker. Soft power is asking who got the deduction while the neighborhood got the substation.<\/p>\n
Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined the letters. The lawmakers wrote that Americans are worried about AI\u2019s impacts \u2014 \u201cfrom increased utility bills to threats of job losses and cyberattacks\u201d \u2014 and that instead of meaningfully regulating Big Tech, Republicans \u201cpassed tax subsidies for AI development and AI data centers.\u201d Soft power is not a shrug at the meter. Soft power is treating the grid like it belongs to people who sleep under it.<\/p>\n
The letter\u2019s arithmetic is not vibes. Corporate tax payments are down 25 percent this year, Warren\u2019s letter said, citing Politico reporting quoting budget forecasters. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in February that the federal government would collect 10.6 percent less in corporate income tax in 2026 than a year earlier \u2014 from $452 billion to $404 billion. Meta paid $2.8 billion in federal income tax in 2025, down from $9.6 billion in 2024, while earning roughly the same profit both years, per the letter. Soft power is noticing when the profit stays fat and the check to the Treasury gets a cardigan-sized haircut.<\/p>\n
Pointing to SEC filings, the lawmakers said Microsoft\u2019s current federal income tax expense dropped by over $11 billion from fiscal 2025 to 2026; Amazon\u2019s federal income tax payment dropped by nearly $8 billion from fiscal 2024 to 2025; and Alphabet\u2019s combined current federal and state income tax expense dropped by over $7 billion in the same period. Meta\u2019s capital expenditures \u2014 the \u201cvast majority\u201d of which, the letter says, constitute data-center construction and other AI spending \u2014 amounted to $72 billion last year, \u201cmuch of which you may have been able to immediately deduct\u201d under the bill\u2019s corporate tax handouts. Soft power is not a Pez dispenser of R&D credits. Soft power is a receipt that can survive a midterm.<\/p>\n
Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are the top three data-center companies in the U.S. by active IT capacity, according to ABI Research cited in the coverage; Google Cloud ranks tenth. The companies contributed $1 million each to Trump\u2019s inauguration and spent millions lobbying Congress and federal agencies ahead of the 2025 bill, the letter says \u2014 \u201cYour company has spent lavishly to stay on the good side of President Trump, and it appears that you are now seeing your investment bear fruit.\u201d Answers were requested by October 12. Soft power is a deadline that isn\u2019t optional just because the lobbyist bought a better scarf.<\/p>\n
Deb will reply-all that we are not doing \u201cutility math\u201d before the second cup. Buck will text that a data center is just a barn with better air conditioning. I love them. I am a Gen X exile in an expensive cardigan who got walked out of the You Know Who Post for caring too loudly, and I can still tell the difference between innovation and a tax holiday with a cooling tower. Soft power is not subsidizing the swarm while the bill climbs. Soft power is asking Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft for the ledger \u2014 then voting like the kilowatt is a constituent.<\/p>\n