State legislators are eager to bring new business in to their states to help boost revenues that have been scarce over the last few years. One sure-fire way to boost the visibility of a state and its offerings to prospective data center developers is to offer the all-powerful tax break.

Just this week, legislators in South Carolina pushed through a bill that will give tax breaks to companies that provide data center services and generate at least 25 jobs and invest in $50 million or more, according to this DatacenterDynamics report.

Economic developers in the state recognize the growth of the cloud industry and are pushing the need for larger data centers whose server-lined halls are potential gold mines in the eyes of economic development officials.

Currently, South Carolina has only one company that has invested in data center services in the state. Pushing the legislation through could put them in the same ballpark with other states that have attracted more data center services traffic.

Washington state lawmakers successfully passed a similar item last month. The state’s previous tax incentive for companies providing data center services had shown success and brought business from Yahoo and Microsoft (News - Alert).

That program had reached its end, however, and in the interim, Oregon began picking up companies offering data center services, including Apple, NetApp, Adobe (News - Alert), and Fortune Data.

Washington lawmakers who backed the recent legislation say they believe offering exemptions will act as a stimulus that will bring immediate investments. The investments mean jobs for Washington residents and further economic growth in rural areas of the state that need it most.

Last month, it was reported that Apple (News - Alert) took advantage of a tax break in Oregon and is investing around $250 million on data center services in Prineville. The deal there involved the company getting property tax exemptions. As the exemptions were based on the size of the project, there won’t be an exemption projection until the data center services buildings are constructed.

What is certain is that Apple’s growing iCloud offering has spawned the construction of a data center services facility in North Carolina, which has the exemptions previously mentioned. That facility has gained more interest in its design, which includes solar power to offset the high energy needs of today’s data center services facilities.

The Missouri House of Representatives are also eager to bring a piece of the data center services pie to the Show-Me State. The House took up the bill early in the session, eager to bring companies willing to invest as little as $5 million.