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Prince William County, Virginia’s tax year 2024 data center tax revenue increased by 68% from its 2023 levels, according to a new county report Tuesday.
During a budget work session before the Board of County Supervisors, Acting Director of Finance Tim Leclerc gave a breakdown of the most recent tax revenue figures for the tech hubs that house the internet.
The $280.2 million total from tax year 2024 dwarfed the $166.4 million from 2023, with an overall increase of 4,237% dating back to 2012 – further demonstrating the rapid growth of the data center industry over the past decade.
In its fiscal 2025 (tax year 2024) budget, the board opted to increase the computer and peripherals – or “C&P” – tax from $2.15 to $3.70 per $100 of assessed value.
This change yielded an increase of $57.5 million in computer tax revenue from data centers between tax years 2023 and 2024, a significant uptick from the $10 million or $20 million increases that were typical of the early 2020s.
Heading into fiscal 2026 (tax year 2025), the board has made clear it is poised to further increase the C&P tax rate to $4.15 per $100 of assessed value, the rate it is currently advertising – having also decoupled the vehicles tax from the computers classification to narrow the scope of the C&P tax to strictly data centers.
The C&P tax portion of data center revenue for tax year 2024 was nearly $124 million, while data centers’ real property generated over $130 million.
Real property revenue from data centers has spiked, growing from $47.3 million in 2022 and $75.4 million in 2023 to $130.7 million in 2024.
This would align Prince William County more closely with data center taxes already enacted by neighboring counties.
Following comments from several data center lobbyists during a budget public hearing Tuesday evening, Gainesville District Supervisor Bob Weir, a Republican, called the potential C&P tax increase to $4.15 a mere “rounding error” for large corporations such as Amazon and Microsoft. Weir has previously stated his opposition to data center sprawl.
During his Tuesday presentation, Leclerc underscored the growth in the number of data centers, detailing the county’s methodology for revenue calculations.
“In 2012, we had nine buildings; in 2023, we had 48 buildings,” Leclerc said. “We start by dealing deeply into the real estate, and then we get tangible property returns … all we care about really is the revenue and then starting to dig down into the revenues – board of equalization meetings, all of that stuff occurs – and the last thing we do is count the buildings.”
Total data center revenue has increased dramatically from its prior totals of $85.9 million in tax year 2021 and $110.8 million in 2022.
While Prince William County’s data center revenue has skyrocketed over the past decade, it still falls significantly short of neighboring Loudoun County, which estimated about $895 million in data center revenue in fiscal 2025, according to county officials.
The board is slated to adopt its new, nearly $2 billion budget on April 22. The 2026 fiscal year begins July 1.
