From the a Rapid City Journal comes notice that it’s not just education who wants a penny sales tax. Cities are going to push to make it two, because they want one for themselves:
Other ideas included raising the sales tax to boost pay and retention of quality instructors at vocational and technical colleges; more freedom for local governments to find innovative ways to create economic incentives to foster growth; generating new revenue streams to improve municipal infrastructure; finding money to pay for proposed Medicaid expansion; and even finding more money for the South Dakota aeronautics fund.
• Yvonne Taylor, director of the South Dakota Municipal League. Taylor said her group may propose a one-cent jump in the state sales tax to pay for local roads, sewers, workforce housing and other projects that she said create a platform for growth and development. Taylor also wants to change the trigger point for when rural land bought for development is re-assessed. Now, it is assessed at a new rate when platting is done, even if the development isn’t planned until long into the future. That can stifle long-range plans for growth, she said.
So, a portion of the property tax, and 2% of the sales tax isn’t enough for cities?
Increasing the sales tax for schools is going to be difficult enough. I think a further increase for municipalities is completely D.O.A., and woe be to the legislator who sponsors it, as they shall see it in campaign ads.
What do you think?
I for one don’t want to be Minnesota, yes they have higher teacher pay but they have higher taxes to get it! Now the cities want more taxes…
A Rapid City alderman wants to revisit the issue of levying a special booze tax to fund city and county detox expenses. So there’s that.
Why not? Water transmission system 65 years old…same with the sewer. Roads can only be chip-sealed so many times…..or should the cities just do special assessments against the abutting properties and force the landowner to get it paid in ten years? Of course their share goes up if their neighbor is 65 and has opted out. It isn’t like cities are rolling in the dough.
Conservatives don’t raise taxes, period. Selling out isn’t an option.
The money seldom goes to what it says it’s going to. Look at all of the “benevolent charities” where only a very few pennies per dollar go toward them. The rest lines the pockets of the people who run them. Guess that is what happened to our federal grant monies as well, come to think of it.
Careful Comrade Lansing! We don’t want you blowing a gasket over here.
Keep working, Anonymous. You’ll get that high school equivalency this next year, for sure.
Our RINO governor and legislature passed two of the largest tax increases in SD history, they created more government, and increased spending this last year.
Not going to hold my breath that they won’t repeat their poor performance this next year. They are educating South Dakotans as to why the GOP brand has been ruined nationally and how our national debt continues to explode.
Stace, why don’t you just put your name on you posts–we all know its you…
Finding money to pay for Medicaid expansion?? I thought that was to be taken care of by shifting more to the IHS. First wisely use the monies we do send the government!