Senator Warren asks tech giants about AI tax breaks in the US — CNBC
In the United States, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, together with other senators, sent letters to the heads of Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft demanding information about tax breaks related to the development of artificial intelligence and data centers. The lawmakers also asked the companies to report tax deductions associated with such spending and their lobbying activities ahead of the adoption of the Republican tax-and-budget law in 2025, CNBC reports.
Requests to companies
Senators Tina Smith, Jeff Merkley, Elissa Slotkin, Bernie Sanders, and Richard Blumenthal joined Warren's initiative. In the letters, they said Americans are concerned about the possible consequences of the spread of AI, including rising electricity bills, risks of job losses, and cyberattacks.
According to the Democrats, instead of significantly regulating major technology companies, Republicans introduced tax subsidies for the development of AI and data centers. The lawmakers asked all four companies to provide answers by October 12. Representatives of Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Tax data and the White House position
In the letters, the senators noted that corporate tax revenue is declining this year despite rising company revenues. They cited a forecast by the US Congressional Budget Office: federal corporate tax revenue in 2026 could amount to $404 billion, 10.6% less than the $452 billion projected a year earlier.
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According to data cited in the letter, Meta paid $2.8 billion in federal income tax in 2025, compared with $9.6 billion in 2024, while its profit was approximately the same in both years. The authors of the letter to Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg also noted that the company's capital expenditures reached $72 billion last year, with most of them going toward data center construction and other AI-related spending.
Citing corporate reports, the senators said Microsoft's current federal tax expense decreased by more than $11 billion between fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Amazon's federal tax payments, they said, fell by nearly $8 billion between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, while Alphabet's combined current federal and state tax expense over the same period declined by more than $7 billion.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai rejected the Democrats' criticism. He told CNBC that provisions of the law aimed at economic growth, including full expensing of equipment costs, encourage job creation, investment, and wage growth across industries.
