Ron Wyden spent 26 years fighting to keep the government's hands off the internet.
But that is no longer the case.
And the same senator who authored the Internet Tax Freedom Act wants to tax every data center in America – and he won't return calls asking him to explain himself.
The Betrayal Is in His Own Press Releases
In 2004, Wyden stood at the White House while President Bush signed the Internet Tax Non-Discrimination Act into law.
Wyden wrote that bill.
He called it legislation that would "keep the web an active and growing means of communication, business and education."
He said it would "preserve and grow the Internet's vital contribution to the U.S. economy."
Now Wyden wants to hit data center owners with an annual tax on gross receipts – not profits, gross receipts – at a "low single-digit" rate on every facility operating in the United States.
https://twitter.com/Grimillionaire/status/2086953858798957038?s=20
Americans for Tax Reform calls it exactly what it is: a national internet tax.
"This tax will be paid by anyone who uses the internet," said James Erwin of Americans for Tax Reform. "A tax on data centers is a tax on your email, family photos, small business operations, cloud storage, and your Instagram, X, TikTok and Facebook posts."
Data centers don't eat those costs themselves.
They pass them to you.
What Wyden Is Actually Proposing
The plan is worse than the headline.
Wyden wants to end tax incentives for data center construction – including the immediate write-offs that help companies build faster.
He wants a gross receipts tax on facilities nationwide.
He acknowledges the definition of "data center" is so broad it would trip up nearly every business in America, so he says there will be "carveouts" – but he doesn't define them.
He admits cloud computing would not be exempted.
Cloud computing is how your company stores files, runs software, and operates remotely.
It's how your doctor's office manages medical records.
It's how small businesses across America compete without paying Fortune 500 IT costs.
Wyden would tax all of it.
He also – and this is not a joke – wants to extend the tax to data centers built in space.
Fox News Digital reached out to Wyden's office for comment.
They didn't respond.
What Trump Is Doing Instead
While Wyden drafts taxes, Trump is building.
The Trump administration has pulled together over 200 utilities, developers, electric cooperatives, and state leaders into the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" – a coordinated push to expand energy supply and hold down costs for consumers.
White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston put it plainly: "President Trump is cementing American AI dominance over China while ensuring data centers pay for their own power, water and other utilities. The President's commonsense approach will beat China, harness this technological boom and deliver lower costs and new opportunities for working families and small businesses."
Trump told Fox News that whoever wins the AI race wins everything – and that it's bigger than the internet itself.
He's right.
Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have committed over $1 trillion in AI infrastructure spending in 2025 and 2026 combined.
https://twitter.com/DaVinci132134/status/2087355610236871094?s=20
The United States currently invests 23 times more private capital in AI than China.
Eighty-five percent of the S&P 500's gains in 2026 have come from AI companies.
Wyden wants to tax the infrastructure that makes all of it possible.
This Is Exactly How China Wins
Trump told Fox News last week that China is actively fueling the backlash against American data centers – because Beijing knows whoever builds the most AI infrastructure wins the race.
At a moment when the U.S. is ahead – genuinely, measurably, historically ahead – Ron Wyden wants to slow the build with new taxes.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want a full moratorium on data center construction.
Wyden's proposal is the polite version of the same thing: don't ban them, just tax them until the economics fall apart.
The man who once fought to keep the government off the internet is now the man who won't explain why he changed his mind.
Sources:
- Robert Schmad, "Top Senate Dem's new tax idea gets torched as critics warn nearly every American could pay," Fox News, August 10, 2026.
- "Wyden Internet Tax Moratorium Bill Signed Into Law at White House," Wyden Senate Press Release, December 3, 2004.
- Khushboo Razdan, "Trump claims China is fuelling resistance to AI data centres in the US," South China Morning Post, August 5, 2026.
- "The United States Is Betting the House on Winning the Artificial Intelligence Race With China," Foreign Policy, August 4, 2026.
- "Trump is Right: Americans Should Embrace AI Data Centers," American Thinker, July 2026.