NY Taxpayers Spend $77M for One JP Morgan Data Center Job; By Far Largest Subsidy Per Job in History

The Largest Government Subsidy Per Job in the United States
$77 million dollars per job is by far the largest government subsidy ever recorded within the United States, possibly the world. Subsidies of $2m per job are extremely rare and typically even the most controversial mega-deals cost less than $500,000 per job. Notably, for decades New York State has led the country in mega-subsidy deals and in subsidies per job. (This analysis was reported today in NY Focus).

Rockland County IDA’s Deal to Subsidize JPMC Datacenter II (ID: 3901-24-07A)
Under the terms of the “JPMC Datacenter II” deal, the Rockland County Industrial Development Agency will provide substantial subsidies to JP Morgan Chase to expand its existing – also highly subsidized – Project Sycamore data center at 140 Old Orangeburg Road (Site: 73.08-1-1.) in Orangetown, New York. The Rockland IDA will abate up to $76,715,000 in sales taxes on JP Morgan’s purchase of $916,000,000 worth of computers and equipment. Plus, the deal extends the expiration of JP Morgan’s 2017 Project Sycamore property tax abatement (PILOT) by 17 years and 3 months, from Sept 1, 2027 to December 1, 2044. In return for the subsidies, JP Morgan will build a new data center that creates one full-time job and continue paying a total of about $600k a year in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) to the Pearl River School District and Town of Orangetown. 

Rockland IDA Abating $40 Million in NY State Sales Taxes for JPMC Datacenter II 
Under state law, Local IDAs are allowed to abate the 4% state sales/use tax. This is especially valuable to data centers buying hundreds of millions in new computer servers and the infrastructure supporting them. Another way of looking at this is that appointees of the Rockland County executive have the authority to spend tens of millions of state funds without the approval of the state legislature, the governor, state comptroller or other state elected official. 

JPMC Datacenter II Subsidy Deal is a Cash Windfall for the Rockland IDA
The Rockland IDA will make at least $2.3 million in commissions on its deal for JPMC Datacenter II. The Rockland IDA, like all of New York’s 107 IDAs, pays its way with the commission it gets on subsidy deals. Thus the commission on the JPMC Datacenter II deal will pay for more than two years of the IDA’s $900k a year operating budget. This perverse incentive for IDAs to give away tax dollars is intolerable and should be banned under state law. The math: Rockland IDA charges a commission of 1/4% for abating sales taxes on amounts over $4m. One-fourth of one percent x JP Morgan’s taxable purchases of $916,000,000 equals $2.3m.

Rockland IDA’s Law Firm Made $2,293,750 in Fees on JPMC Datacenter II Sales Tax Break 
Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP, the bond counsel working for the Rockland IDA, gets a base fee of $2,500 on sales tax abatements + $2,500 (first $500k x .5%) + $2,288,750 ($915.5m x .25%).

Rockland IDA’s JP Morgan Deal Smashes NY Subsidy Per Job Record
Subsidy per job is an important measure of a project’s efficiency at turning taxpayer subsidies into societal benefit. Most subsidy agreements require a business to disclose how many full and part-time jobs they are creating or retaining and how much they pay. 

The 2017 Data Center Deal
JP Morgan Project Sycamore Data Center Got $37 Million in Taxpayer Subsidies 
Eight-Year Period: 2017 through 2024 

In 2017, JP Morgan received approval to develop the site of an abandoned psychiatric hospital at 140 Old Orangeburg Road in Orangetown, Rockland County (ID3901-17-03A)(NYISO Queue 1713.) Rockland IDA data disclosed to the NY Authorities Budget Office and published on the state open data portal show JP Morgan Data Center I / Project Sycamore receiving $36.6 million in subsidies, including $16.8m in abated state taxes and employing 25 full-time workers. 

The JP Morgan/Project Sycamore Orangetown consumes 31.74MWh (NYISO) or 45MWh per datacenter.

State Law and IDA Mission is to Create and Retain Jobs 
New York State General Municipal Law (Sec 858) allows local governments to create Industrial Development Agencies to “…advance the job opportunities…of the people of the state of New York.” Accordingly, the Mission Statement of the Rockland County Industrial Development Agency (Rockland IDA) says its top priority is “…to advance the job opportunities…of the people of Rockland County.” 

Key Sources

• Rockland IDA 2026 Mission Statement
• Rockland IDA Active Projects
• JPMC Datacenter II – Orangeburg – document folder
• Amended Inducement Resolution
• Project Agreement JPMC Datacenter II
• 2017 Data Center Project: Rockland IDA 2024 PARIS Disclosure 
• 2017 Orangetown Civil Site Plan for Proj Sycamore – confirms JPMC ownership (Pg.1) 
• NYS Open Data ABO Dataset of IDA Project disclosures: Project code 3901-17-03A. 
• 2025 NYISO Goldbook load and capacity report (Page 134 footnote #6. Project Sycamore “25.24 MW uprate of an existing 6.5 MW load facility, resulting in a total load of 31.74 MW.”)

Useful Press 

• Texas Losing Billion a Year to Datacenter Tax Breaks
• Here’s JPMorgan Chase’s blueprint to become the world’s first fully AI-powered megabank – CNBC 09/30/25 
• 2017 JP Morgan Data Center Project in Orangetown

Click here to view the analysis as a PDF.