Erin Tobin: Time to put economic growth back on the menu for South Dakota

Former State Senator Erin Tobin seems like she’s on a mission for South Dakota to serve it’s citizens.

Recently, she was in the news advocating for rural health care, and drawing attention to the availability crisis that many counties face in health care. And this afternoon, she’s pointing out how when the economy booms, it decreases the tax burden that falls to individuals:

“Unfortunately, too many in our legislature are quick to reject ideas they don’t understand. They didn’t do the math. But the math is simple: when we grow the pie, everyone gets a bigger slice. It’s time we elect leaders who get it.

That sounds like someone who is ready to lead.

31 thoughts on “Erin Tobin: Time to put economic growth back on the menu for South Dakota”

    1. The Rhoden administration continues to make it look like Hansen and Lems are running the show.

      1. Hahaha. No objective person thinks that. Hanson and Lems look like they’re running for congress. Doeden really took the stale breeze out of their sails.

        They WILL use the people’s house and the legislature as a political game at the expense of the state to TRY to appear to be good leaders. Can’t wait for that charade. Eye roll.

  1. Would a blessing of the facility in Ellendale by a Catholic priest sprinkling Holy Water along with additional blessings by other clergy help eliminate fears by the Lemmings and Doedites?

    It is not powered by Satan and the local EVs do not include Demonic Drive software. It’s ok. Let’s move on and focus on opportunities for all. Progress!

    1. It is humorous, and highly amusing to grudznick, that Ms. Lemms and her Lemmsings outshadow Mr. Hansen in the races to be Governor. When Mr. Doeden announces Ms. Taffy is on his team this Vice Governorness business will get very, very interesting.

  2. This is a District 4 project in Deuel County, just north of Brookings. Like Erin, I support the project. There is still much work to do at the county level and the next public meeting is scheduled for June 17th with the Deuel County Commissioners. Feel free to join us.

    1. The legislature has to vote for the sales tax break, or they will go elsewhere. The county can do their work only if the idiots in the legislature make SD competitive.

    2. Fred, glad to see you came around on this. I’ve met with Applied several times starting back in March. It’s pro-growth. It’s pro-small town South Dakota. Happy to have your support on legislation I’ll be bringing to land this here. D4 Rep Kent Roe

  3. Can someone tell me who is against this or what the problem seems to be? Why do we have multiple articles promoting this?

    Are the tax payers going to be asked to cough up some cash for this?

    1. To my knowledge there is no organized resistence. The company is looking for some type of help from the state. The locals have concerns about how the project – both construction and future operation will effect thier very rural way of life, adequacy of infrastructure, etc.

      1. The resistance is majority of the Senate who will not (did not) allow the sales tax break when they voted this session. The sales tax break that the 30+ other states give them.

        Option A – revenue and growth for Deuel County. Option B – no revenue for anyone in SD.

        Senators like Taffy Howard, Carley, Voita, Perry….they just turned down tax reduction.

      2. Fred- there is no organized resistance, but resistance is organizing. I’ve spent hours near Toronto & Astoria getting the feel for what the locals have to say, and listening to their thoughts. There were meetings against this pro-growth enterprise in north-central South Dakota earlier with several legislators there in opposition. I’d be glad to help educate you about the enterprise. If anyone has questions, feel free to reach out.
        District 4 Rep Kent Roe

        1. Hansen and Lems are wagging the dog on every issue and still running against Rhoden.

          It looks weak on Rhoden’s part.

    2. Ask Larry. Or really ask tony. They will tell you these projects will come anyway bc we are open for business. And opportunity.

    3. While I agree the tax benefits and economic impact would be beneficial, many sources cite environmental impact as a con, mainly due to their high energy use, carbon emissions, and demands on local resources. “These facilities can consume more electricity than entire countries and sometimes use large amounts of water for cooling.”

        1. Millions of gallons of water are used in these centers to cool computerized systems. PLEASE make accurate statements, based on research.

          1. The proposed facility would have a closed loop system for the cooling. The system uses a water/glycol mixture that would be produced elsewhere and trucked in for filling the system. The local water usage would be for the bathrooms and such for use by the workers.

          2. They use an antifreeze substance to cool the systems at this facility, and it runs in a loop and is cooled off again and reused. Their employees will flush the toilets and wash their hands – and that is all they will use for water.

            Anon 8:24 – PLEASE do your research on this issue and the different types of processes used at these facilities.

      1. but the same crowd that was opposed to pipeline because ‘gren new deal scam blah blah’ will now be opposed to this over environmental concerns. not genuine.

  4. Who wants to bet Dakota Rural Action is against data centers!? And probably their friends at the Township Association. Both proudly fight and kill economic development that would raise local tax revenue and then beg for money from the legislature because they lack said local revenue. It’s a vicious cycle!

  5. https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/wallethub-ranks-south-dakotas-economy-at-47th-in-the-nation-we-closed-out-2024-with-no-none-nada-economic-growth-by-far-the-lowest-in-our-region

    This is the real state of the state. As much as Kristi was open to grift err I mean business, the state is an economic disaster waiting to happen.

    Ethanol is not going to save us. Pipelines through the state are not going to save us.

    We have extremely low electricity costs here bc of our 80% renewable energy sources. We should be slapping up wind farms and data centers left and right.

    Shipping electricity out of state is not economical however, shipping bits into the state is.

    It’s the clearest win win situation there is. However MAGA hates if so here we are.

    1. Exactly this.
      The state’s economy isn’t growing. I was honestly shocked that it wasn’t shrinking.
      This is a case where we should be out trying to convince Google, and Microsoft, and Amazon, and whoever else, to build datacenters here.
      This will bring new, high paying jobs to the state. They can help build up the data infrastructure to communities near the centers.
      This would be a win/win for the state.

      1. No! No! No! We need to communicate to our legislators that their focus which comes really easy to them requiring not much effort is to double down, triple down and quadruple down on culture war legislation during session!

        They must purge and purify everywhere! Their work on earth is not done!

  6. Let’s be real, the MAGA way is to just give pie to only some that we feel deserve pie, it is just like Jesus would have done, right?

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