Utah residents are facing a sharp property tax increase in Eagle Mountain, where anger over a massive Meta data center tax break is colliding with growing dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump. Utah‘s Eagle Mountain City Council voted unanimously Aug. 6 to increase the city’s property tax rate by 183 percent. For the median household, the increase would amount to roughly $255 more per year.
Still, residents have questioned why homeowners are being asked to pay more while Meta has received substantial tax incentives for its $1.5 billion data center in the city of Eagle Mountain. In 2018, four of five local taxing entities agreed to waive 100 percent of Meta’s personal property taxes and 80 percent of its real property taxes for 40 years. The first phase of the incentive has been valued at $150 million over two decades, with the total potentially reaching $750 million if the company’s planned expansion is completed.
The controversy prompted 13 residents to file a referendum seeking to overturn the property tax increase. City officials subsequently agreed to reconsider the tax rate, with discussions reportedly focusing on a potentially smaller increase.
The controversy comes as Trump’s standing among Utah voters has weakened. A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 45 percent of Utah voters approved of his job performance, compared with 52 percent who disapproved. Among Republicans, however, Trump remained considerably stronger, with 76 percent approving and 21 percent disapproving.
While the property tax fight does not directly measure Trump’s popularity, the combination of rising local costs, corporate tax incentives, and concerns about development has led to challenges to Utah’s traditionally Republican political direction.
People online are questioning Utah’s politics
Online reactions reflected that divide, with some users mocking Utah voters while others focused on the state’s tax structure and the long-term costs of accommodating major data centers. One commenter on Reddit argued that Utah’s system had been suppressing revenue for years, stating, “So facebook got a sweetheart tax deal, and the local residents get to foot the bill?”
The data center and property tax dispute has also fueled online criticism of the arrangement. One commenter pointed to the tax exemptions and wrote, “Well on the bright side they get absolutely nothing in return.” Another argued that wealthy corporations “can afford to pay the most” while residents are left carrying more of the financial burden. A different commenter summarized the frustration more bluntly: “These rubes didn’t really think the bro-ligarchs would build these things near their own backyards, did they?”
Trump notably garnered nearly 60 percent support in Utah (with less than 40 percent for Harris) in the previous 2024 election. But while his popularity is waning in the state, it appears his ‘heirs apparent’ are still in the spotlight for Utah voters. Such a statistic has led to disdain from online commenters, with one of them even joking, “All the data centers should be built in red states,” as some kind of consequence.
