North Dakota

North Dakota does not appear to offer big subsidies though it’s hard to say so: the state is not forthcoming about its use of economic development incentives. Only one program, the North Dakota Development Fund, has any kind of online reporting on either individual awards or aggregate costs. Some program costs, however, can be received from the State Tax Commission via information requests.  

In recent years, the state created a Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption program in hopes of attracting data center and crypto mining operations. Research and development tax credit appears to be one of the more expensive programs.  

North Dakota is one of the four states that do not issue tax expenditure reports on a regular basis. Subsidy programs are, however, regularly evaluated by the Legislature’s Political Subdivision Taxation Committee. The state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs) do not have any tax abatement disclosures, not even for incentives that should qualify as a tax abatement under Statement No. 77. Some larger localities do report Renaissance Zone and other property tax exemptions.  

Several programs such as Renaissance Zone and New/Expanding Business Tax Exemptions bundle state and local tax breaks. State programs are administered by the Department of Commerce’s Division of Economic Development and Finance and the Office of the State Tax Commissioner. On the local level, cities and counties approve property tax abatements via the two major programs. Before the final local approval, both the Renaissance Zone and the New Business Property Tax Exemption applications must be certified by the state agencies.  

Last updated November 2023.

For more information, contact Jacob Whiton at [email protected].