Everything is bigger in Texas — just not the taxes.
Oracle is disputing the property valuation of its Stargate data center site in Abilene, Texas, local officials confirmed to Business Insider.
Oracle is eligible for an 85% property tax abatement for the Abilene data center, thanks to an agreement with the city's local economic development corporation. A lower property value, in addition to the abatement, would shrink the software giant's tax bill even further.
BI has previously reported on the vast disparity between Big Tech's eye-popping data center investments and the seemingly minimal economic benefit they bring to local economies.
In Abilene, Stargate developer Crusoe has committed to spending up to $3.5 billion to build the data center site in exchange for its property tax abatement. Crusoe has also committed to creating 357 new full-time jobs. As Crusoe's sub-lessee on the property, it's Oracle that ultimately benefits from the agreement.
Companies often insist that tax breaks are crucial factors in choosing where to expand. Economic development officials say that any additional revenue to cities and towns is good, even if that revenue could have been higher without tax abatements.
Oracle did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
Oracle's executive chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison, is no stranger to property tax appeals himself. In 2008, he successfully lobbied San Mateo County to lower the value of his property, a 23-acre site with an 8,000-square-foot residence inspired by the country estate of a Japanese emperor. The county awarded him a $3 million tax break.
Taylor County officials weren't surprised that Oracle filed a protest. The money-saving maneuver is often used, even if the company is already receiving other tax breaks or incentives. Texas law also gives any property owner (or an eligible sub-lessee, like Oracle) the right to challenge an appraisal.
"It is a very large property," said Gary Earnest, Taylor County's chief appraiser. "But at the same time, you approach value in the same manner as you would any large company — Costco, Sam's, Walmart, or any of those guys."
Earnest's appraisal valued the Stargate site at about $200 million for the 2025 tax year. He said it would be impossible to calculate what Oracle would pay in taxes at that valuation and with no abatement, because Texas property tax rates fluctuate from year to year and can be unpredictable.
Elijah Anderson, Taylor County's auditor, said that more than half the county's new property value this year came from Lancium, the company that owns the land underneath the Stargate data center. He estimated that Taylor County would have gotten about $3 million in tax revenue from Lancium properties had the valuation not been challenged.
The majority of Taylor County's $79 million general fund comes from property tax revenue, said Anderson, so an additional million or so dollars isn't exactly transformational.
"It's not a doubling of anything," he said. "But it's a significant amount that could go toward new programs."
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