--- title: Meta is giving $1bn to data centre towns. Its proof is a... description: Mark Zuckerberg announced a $1 billion 'Future Is For Everyone Fund' to invest in communities where Meta builds data centres. Investigation reveals the fund's... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/meta-is-giving-1bn-to-data-centre-towns-its-proof-is-a-tax-from-1968-pvndlumnp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Meta is giving $1bn to data centre towns. Its proof is a tax from 1968 | daily.dev og:description: Mark Zuckerberg announced a $1 billion 'Future Is For Everyone Fund' to invest in communities where Meta builds data centres. Investigation reveals the fund's... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/meta-is-giving-1bn-to-data-centre-towns-its-proof-is-a-tax-from-1968-pvndlumnp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/PvNDlUmNp.png og:image:alt: Meta is giving $1bn to data centre towns. Its proof is a tax from 1968 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Meta is giving $1bn to data centre towns. Its proof is a tax from 1968 **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 6 min read · 1 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary Mark Zuckerberg announced a $1 billion 'Future Is For Everyone Fund' to invest in communities where Meta builds data centres. Investigation reveals the fund's sole worked example — $50,000 teacher bonuses in Richland Parish, Louisiana — was funded not by Meta philanthropy but by a 1968 local sales tax triggered by Meta's construction spending, which will end when building wraps up in 2030. The parish also gave Meta significant tax breaks. Meanwhile, Richland Parish has seen home prices rise 63% year-on-year and car crashes up 600% near the site. The fund itself lacks specifics: no community count, no timeline, no governance structure. The announcement comes as over 500 US jurisdictions now restrict or ban new data centres and a Gallup poll shows 71% of Americans oppose them locally. Meta's $1bn fund equals roughly 1.7% of its annual profit and matches what it claims to already be spending on local infrastructure in Richland Parish alone. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Where did the $50,000 teacher bonuses in Richland Parish, Louisiana actually come from? They came from a one-cent sales tax the parish created in 1968, not from a new corporate donation. Meta's data centre construction spending triggered a first sales tax payment of $22.4m, exceeding the parish's normal annual collection, with roughly half going to the school board and $16.2m of the district's $36.5m fiscal-year total tied to that dedicated tax. _Anyone tracking how AI infrastructure investment actually funds local services can follow real numbers like these on daily.dev._ ### How many US jurisdictions are restricting or banning new data centres? More than 500 US jurisdictions now restrict or ban new data centre construction, with over 150 of those bans arriving in a single month. A Gallup poll found 71% of Americans oppose data centres being built in their area, and developers scrapped more than 50 projects, double the prior year's pace, reflecting growing local backlash against AI infrastructure expansion. _Readers weighing the real costs of AI infrastructure expansion can track this backlash on daily.dev._ ### Why did Meta withdraw from the RE100 clean energy commitment? Meta withdrew from RE100 because it could no longer meet the initiative's technical criteria, ending a commitment it had held since 2014. The withdrawal coincided with Meta committing to 10 natural gas plants for its Hyperion data centre campus and a separate 200MW gas facility in Ohio, tying its power strategy to fossil fuels rather than renewable-only sourcing. _Developers evaluating AI companies' energy claims can keep up with shifts like this on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@rizzdev** · 0 upvotes > the gift framing is a tax base the build already forces into existence **@akashskypatel** · 0 upvotes > That money is 100% going to be embezzled by local legislators and contractors and no one in the regular working class is going to see any of it especially after construction wraps up and all the jobs disappear overnight. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Meta’s Hyperion data centre hits $50bn and splits a town](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-s-hyperion-data-centre-hits-50bn-and-splits-a-town-4b1zfxdcn) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Meta Hyperion data centre: $200 billion, 10 gas plants, and 4,000 acres in rural Louisiana for AI](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-hyperion-data-centre-200-billion-10-gas-plants-and-4-000-acres-in-rural-louisiana-for-ai-6yrdtfsq2) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Meta to sell $30B in bonds to build AI datacenters](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-to-sell-30b-in-bonds-to-build-ai-datacenters-wwmxprekb) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Meta is raising $13bn for one Texas data centre, a new ceiling for single-site AI financings](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-is-raising-13bn-for-one-texas-data-centre-a-new-ceiling-for-single-site-ai-financings-nq0faqocq) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-is-giving-1bn-to-data-centre-towns-its-proof-is-a-tax-from-1968-pvndlumnp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Meta is giving $1bn to data centre towns. 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Readers weighing the real costs of AI infrastructure expansion can track this backlash on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Meta withdraw from the RE100 clean energy commitment?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Meta withdrew from RE100 because it could no longer meet the initiative's technical criteria, ending a commitment it had held since 2014. The withdrawal coincided with Meta committing to 10 natural gas plants for its Hyperion data centre campus and a separate 200MW gas facility in Ohio, tying its power strategy to fossil fuels rather than renewable-only sourcing. Developers evaluating AI companies' energy claims can keep up with shifts like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```