Category: Uncategorized

Trade Agreements Vital to South Dakota’s Economy
By U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)

Free and fair trade plays an important role in the American economy. It not only leads to more jobs and higher wages, it allows American producers to promote and sell their goods across the globe by leveling the playing field with other competitors. Our farm economy, in particular, benefits from trade agreements. As our number one industry in South Dakota, I continue to promote and prioritize trade agreements that benefit our farmers and ranchers.

I continue to hear from South Dakota producers and ag groups who are concerned about the future of trade agreements. At Dakotafest, the State Fair and other events across the state last month, producers repeatedly told me that opening up new markets for American exports will greatly benefit their operations. Foreign markets absorb approximately 20 percent of all U.S. agricultural production today, which significantly contributes to the overall health of the farm economy.  The economic benefits of agricultural exports also extend to businesses in rural communities, while overseas farm sales help to buoy a wide array of industries linked to agriculture, including transportation, processing and farm input suppliers.

In recent months, President Trump has indicated his desire to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and modify – if not completely withdraw from – our trade agreement with South Korea. Both of these agreements benefit South Dakota producers because we have no tariffs or limits on the quantity or value of products that can be imported and exported with countries such as Mexico and Canada. In 2016, American farmers sent $20.5 billion worth of exports to Canada and $17.8 billion worth of exports to Mexico, which is the largest market for U.S. corn and soymeal, the second largest market for U.S. soybeans and the third largest market for U.S. beef. Additionally, South Korea is one of our top export markets, with $6.2 billion in ag exports last year alone.

We all want the best deal we can get, and I support the president’s goal to make the best possible trade deals that will improve America’s ability to export products. However, simply withdrawing from long-standing trade agreements without a similar structure in place would cause significant harm to South Dakota’s producers, and I would strongly oppose such action.

Earlier this year, I sent a letter to the new U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, to encourage him to maintain strong relationships with our allies in NAFTA and work to open up new markets around the world for American ag products. I also met with him prior to his confirmation to discuss increasing trade opportunities for U.S. producers. I was pleased to hear that he agrees with me on the importance of trade for our ag economy, and in fact, this spring, the Trump administration announced an agreement had been reached to allow for U.S. exports of beef, poultry and natural gas into China. South Dakota ranchers are now able to sell high-quality beef in this new and lucrative market. I continue to encourage the administration to increase trade access to markets in other parts of Asia and the Pacific Rim region as well.

As we continue to discuss new opportunities for trade, I will work with the administration to promote and prioritize South Dakota’s agricultural industry. Opening up new markets for trade will bring a much-needed boost to South Dakota’s farm economy and lead to higher-paying jobs across the state.

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A Beacon for Freedom and Opportunity
By Rep. Kristi Noem

 

Almost one in four Americans weren’t yet born when the towers fell and the Pentagon was struck on September 11, 2001. For them, the threat of terrorism has always been present, security always enhanced, and shoes always removed at airport security checkpoints. Sometimes I forget that Booker, born less than a year after the attack, is one of these people. He learns about it in history class, but the pages of a textbook can never quite convey what it was like to live through that day.

I remember exactly where I was. Like so many other mornings, it started off as such a normal Tuesday. Get the girls up and off to school, jump in the pickup, and flip on the radio. But then the reports started coming in…

A plane strikes the World Trade Center in New York City. A second tower is hit. The Pentagon too. And then, that chilling moment when New York City’s streets fill with dust, the images of which can never be forgotten; the first tower had collapsed. Minutes later, we learn another plane crashed in Pennsylvania. The second tower falls. And America unites in grief, determination, and prayer.

Many of us might even still remember President Bush’s words just hours after: “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America… [W]e’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.”

Sixteen years later, radical Islamic terrorists continue to make threats on this beacon of freedom – even waging an attack on our embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. ISIL, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and others have sought to expand their physical boundaries and the reach of their violent ideology. These groups are convicted to destroy, not only towers and embassies, but our people and values. They will not succeed. “[America] will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail” – a promise made by President Bush days after the attack and safeguarded by our men and women in uniform every single day.

“The attacks of September 11 were intended to break our spirit. Instead, we have emerged stronger and more united,” New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in December 2001.

It’s undeniable that individual Americans will always have ideological differences, but for those of us who lived through that day, the memory of September 11 binds us together. Particularly in this day and age, that’s a message the next generation could benefit from hearing.

When I talk to Booker about September 11, I want him to understand that we mark this day, not only because of the terror carried out, but because of America’s resiliency in the face of terror. We were and continue to be the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. No one – not the terrorists who piloted those planes, not those who attacked our embassy in Benghazi, not those waging war in the Middle East today – will keep that light from shining.

Recovering Debts Owed To South Dakotans
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

When a debt is owed to you, sometimes it can be difficult to collect. Whether it’s a grocery store that receives a bad check, a carpenter seeking payment on a bill or a person who loans a friend $50, it’s not enjoyable or easy to recover what you are owed.

Sometimes state government finds itself in the same position. Restitution payments and court-ordered child placement costs, fines for hunting violations, unpaid business taxes, reimbursements for damage to state property, or fees owed to a university can also be hard to collect. These unpaid obligations also place a greater financial burden on other taxpayers.

Until a couple of years ago, each state entity tried to collect these debts on their own. The Unified Judicial System, Secretary of State’s Office, Board of Regents, Department of Revenue, and Game, Fish and Parks each had their own debt collection systems in place. That approach was inefficient and did not achieve the desired results.

South Dakota now has a much more effective way to recover money owed – the Obligation Recovery Center. This new centralized system doesn’t just recover dollars owed to the state; it also helps crime victims and single parents who are owed money by convicted felons.

In 2015, the Legislature established the Obligation Recover Center to improve the state’s debt-collection efforts. Now, in the instances where agency efforts to collect debts prove unsuccessful, those debts can be referred to the center, which can impose penalties for non-payment.

For debts exceeding $50, hunting and fishing licenses can be suspended. For debts exceeding $1,000, the state can place blocks on driver licenses and motor vehicle registrations. And for those who still do not work toward reducing their debts, their cases are referred to third-party debt collection agencies.

The Obligation Recovery Center is certainly a more active approach toward debt-collection. Still, it is important to understand that a debtor does not have to repay a debt in full to regain lost privileges. A debtor must simply agree to a payment plan to avoid these penalties.

The results of the new system have been promising. In its year of operation, the Obligation Recovery Center has recovered more than $3.3 million. In addition, payment plans have been established that will collect another $7.6 million.

Around 63,000 cases have been referred to the center and only 24 individuals have appealed their cases to an administrative hearing, which is an indication that the process is largely working as it should.

For the single parent who is owed child support or the crime victim who is owed restitution, the new process is making a big difference. Just as importantly, it’s advancing fairness for the taxpayer.

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Smoking Isn’t Good for You but Neither Are Misguided Tax Policies
By Don Haggar

South Dakota House Speaker Mark Mickelson isn’t the first politician to say education is “the foundation upon which our citizens build their futures.” Or tout an “educated and trained workforce” as the “number one” tool for economic development. And he believes that post-secondary technical schools are an important component in building this workforce.

He’s right. Technical schools expand opportunity for thousands of students by teaching valuable skills that are essential to keeping our society running.

Unfortunately, Speaker Mickelson has come up with an ill-advised way to bring down the cost of tuition at these schools. He’s pushing a ballot initiative that would increase cigarette taxes by $1.00 per pack to fund a multipurpose slush fund for technical post-secondary technical institutes in the state.

Reducing the number of South Dakotans who partake in a habit that kills 480,000 Americans every year and, increasing the number of people who can attend technical schools and pursue opportunity seems like a win-win, right?

Not so fast.

For starters, smokers today tend to be lower income or even at or below the poverty line. Cigarette taxes unfairly squeeze many who are already struggling just to get by.

Of course, if they can’t afford the unhealthy habit, quitting is the best option.

But for a lot of smokers, it isn’t so simple. If it were, they would have already kicked the pricey vice. And here again, income level matters. Studies show that the more educated and affluent who have better access to support and cessation aids like patches and gum have a much higher quitting success rate.

Even if South Dakota smokers do quit, for this ballot measure, that would be a problem.

The proposal promises up to $20 million in financial support for technical schools. But what happens when people stop buying cigarettes and the required tax revenue dries up? It’s happened before. In New York, cigarette taxes are so high they exceed the base cost of a pack of smokes. Yet, the Empire State’s revenue from cigarette taxes fell $400 million from 2010 to 2015. In Illinois, four years after a 2012 cigarette tax increase revenues were $419 million below projections.

It’s risky and irresponsible to fund a worthwhile cause with a revenue source that’s sure to diminish over time.

And the negative consequences don’t end there. The tax also threatens small businesses, especially those that are close to state borders.

Significantly lower cigarette prices in our neighboring states will lure South Dakotans across the line to buy cigarettes—and likely fill up on gas or purchase groceries while they’re at it. When Wisconsin twice raised tobacco taxes between 2007 and 2009, border stores suffered a significant drop in tobacco sales, one claiming they were down by as much as 40 percent. Meanwhile, across the border in neighboring Illinois, where lawmakers had yet to enact higher cigarette taxes, one store owner estimated a 35 to 40 percent boost in cigarette sales.

Nationwide, this border state price disparity has given rise to substantial criminal activity. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy notes, “few politicians realize when they vote for higher excise taxes that doing so may dramatically increase cigarette-related crime such as smuggling.” And their study shows that in New York, which boasts the country’s highest cigarette taxes and the highest cigarette smuggling rate, smokers “consume more smuggled cigarettes than they do legally taxed ones.”

We can all agree that smoking isn’t good for you. But neither are the side effects of misguided tax policies. South Dakota lawmakers should find another way to fund technical education and South Dakotans should think twice before signing a petition that would put this tax hike on the ballot.

It’s starting to look like Dems aren’t satisfied with their candidate for Congress, because he’s not Democrat enough to toe the line for the liberals that have taken over the Democrat party.Maybe that’s why Billie Sutton’s people are being ambiguous about his views on the issues?

 

Congresswoman Kristi Noem is the last candidate to be featured in the series of articles by Bob Mercer on the 2018 candidates for office. And in the article, Congresswoman Noem talks about her background, and how she expects the campaign to play out:

Noem said those experiences helped form her. In 2006, she won election to the state House of Representatives, and re-election in 2008. That was significant, too, she said.

I first posted this over a decade ago, when SDWC was a mere infant. But I still find it hilarious.

(And they’re referring to the first president Bush, which tells you how old this clip is)

Thune: Comprehensive Tax Reform Will Increase Jobs and Wages for the Middle Class

“Reforming our tax code is an indispensable part of getting our economy back on the path to long-term health.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, today outlined several key principles for pro-growth, comprehensive tax reform, which includes increasing wages, jobs, and economic growth; providing tax relief for the middle class; keeping well-paying jobs in the United States; increasing American competitiveness in the global economy; and simplifying the tax code.

Thune has already introduced several tax-related bills, all of which would be prime measures to be included in a comprehensive tax reform package. To learn more about these bills, visit Thune’s tax reform site.