South Dakota Democrats are publicly renewing a push for new and higher taxes on South Dakota citizens in the form of income taxes. Why? Because, they claim, it would allow for more money for Government to do stuff:
South Dakota has lots of needs, many of which Gov. Noem outlined in her State of the State address. We need treatment facilities for the methamphetamine epidemic. We need mental health treatment facilities. We need rural broadband. Where are the funds for these projects — and more — going to come from? Until we increase the amount of money the governor can work with, she cannot accomplish what she wants to do — unless she takes funding away from … what? Schools? State employees?
We need many things, and right now our taxation system is clearly not fair and clearly not adequate.
Let’s consider a small across-the-board personal and corporate income tax to stabilize our tax revenues, remove the sales tax from food, and provide the services that South Dakotans deserve.
Karen Hall is a retired environmental engineer, a writer and a graduate of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. She is currently chair of the Pennington County Democratic Party.
The chair of South Dakota’s second largest Democrat Party organization is openly campaigning in the press for an across-the-board personal and corporate income tax.
Thing never change. We’ve been hearing this for decades from Democrats, who are once again and forever dragging out this tired old record which has never played well in this state.
The liberal Democrat Chair of Pennington County climbs on her tax and spend soapbox and breathlessly uses as her raison d’être the fact that Governor Noem has outlined needs that the state has… and presses a false narrative that the governor needs more money to do all these things.
Funny. I don’t recall the Governor asking for new taxes to do anything.
Here’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans. While Karen Hall with the Democrat Party says we need to tax more so we can spend more, Governor Noem has outlined four pillars of protection for the people of the state which say the opposite.
From Governor Kristi Noem’s campaign website:
Kristi Noem today pledged that as governor, she would uphold Four Pillars of Protection for South Dakotans: Protection from Tax Increases, Protection from Government Growth, Protection from Federal Intrusion, and Protection from Government Secrecy. Noem, who helped negotiate historic tax cuts last year, took Tax Day as an opportunity to highlight her first pillar: Protection from Tax Increases.
and..
Protection from Tax Increases. South Dakota is one of just seven states without an income tax – and we need to keep it that way. As governor, I pledge to veto efforts to increase taxes, and I’ve put that commitment in writing when I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Protection from Government Growth. Under my administration, there would be no new boards, no new commissions, and no new blue ribbon task forces. Instead, we would look to scrub each agency, refocusing and streamlining existing departments while cutting red tape.
While Democrats want new “across-the-board personal and corporate income taxes” so they can justify spending more, the Governor has taken a hard line against an income tax, and has the goal of streamlining government.
Dems, good luck with that one at the ballot box. But, thanks for the talking points. They’ll come in handy.
Is this how they pay for the “free stuff” that they want?
Absolutely! It is way overdue to bring balance in the state’s regressive tax system.
The family of four making $30,000/year is probably receiving some sort of help in the form of an EBT card. That family probably has some sort of help in the form of rent. That family probably has some sort of help in the form of Medicaid. That family of four is probably not paying any federal income taxes. That family of four is probably spending most of it money to make ends meet and yes is probably paying $1200 in taxes.
The family of four making $120,000/year is probably not receiving any of that help. They are probably paying almost $30,000 in federal income taxes. Assuming they have a spend $50,000/year on taxable items, they will pay around $3000 in sales tax. This says nothing about the property tax they pay. It also says nothing about that $45,000 vehicle they have to pay taxes on. I would agree there is not much balance, but slapping an individual income tax on people will not change the balance. It will only make those people pay more and the family making $30,000 will pay nothing more.
Why shouldn’t every human in SD pay sales tax? It’s the most fair tax of all. If you spend money, you pay tax.
“Balance” in Democrat parlance is “re-distribution”. Sell in San Francisco, lefties.
No state income tax.
Any Democrat who pushes for this is an idiot and basically eliminated Billie’s odds in a rematch.
They should call for a tax on trusts. That is something voters would support.
Please explain how trusts are taxed now in SD AND why SD citizens would want them to be taxed.
It’s not just the Dems. Look at the scorecard from AFP – lots of so-called Repubs scored pretty low, in some cases lower than Dems: Anderson, Bartels, Barthel, Borglum, and others.
A sales tax on food.
Just ponder that for a while.
Outrageous really.
South Dakota’s approach to taxes isn’t just really dumb, an argument could be made it’s quite destructive.
Jack, you raise a fair point. I’m open to considering ANY tax cut. I’m not an anarchist. I’m aware we can trim public spending, but we do need to fund the government. Hence, I’m not certain we can eliminate sales taxes on *all* food. We might need to tax restaurant purchases, for example.
As a compromise, let’s consider eliminating sales tax on fresh fruit and vegetables. Working families & parents trying to eat healthful diets need all the help they can get. I’d love to see SD consumers buy more agricultural products: asparagus, cucumber, pumpkin, corn on the cob, sunflower seeds, apples, etc.
Naturally, I’m dead set against a state income tax. We don’t want to become Chicago! But working to reduce sales tax on food purchases has some merit.
We don’t need an income tax, and the South Dakota Democratic Party is not proposing it. Instead, we should take advantage of the opportunity we fought for. We will get an estimated $40 million from internet sales. The duty of state government is to make SD a better place to work and live. We have a lot of places that $40 million could be used to make SD a better place to live and work.
Technical Education to provide workers for high paying jobs
Drug treatment and prevention to reduce crime and make addicts into productive citizens.
and on and on and on.
Instead, the legislature proposes to make a 0.2% decrease in the sales tax rate. It will reduce the cost of a $100 purchase by TWENTY CENTS. It will reduce the cost of my latte by a FULL PENNY. If reducing the high cost of lattes by a full penny is the best idea they can come up with to make SD better, they are morons.
Technical Education to provide workers for high paying jobs ✅
We don’t need an income tax ✅
… and the South Dakota Democratic Party is not proposing it❓❓