The Case of the Growing Credit

Inspector Hale: a research tax credit, $700 million in 2023, $3.9 billion two years on. Wren: what changed? The Ledger: they labelled the AI chips research; same spending, new name; four other giants claim over a billion a year each and none calls it a risk. Nightjar: same chips, different label. A USC study found some companies simply relabel spending as R&D; Meta says it uses the incentives Congress established.

Meta's research tax credit went from $700 million in 2023 to $2 billion in 2024 and $3.9 billion in 2025, once it began labelling AI data-center chips differently for tax purposes, making it the biggest beneficiary of the credit among public companies; Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft each claim more than $1 billion a year but none has flagged the credit as a risk or said whether it covers data centers, a USC study found some companies simply reclassify spending they would make anyway, and Meta says it uses incentives Congress created.

Starring

Inspector HaleWrenThe LedgerNightjar