Fact Check Gnome – Billie Sutton helped fund poll to see if an income tax would fly in SD

Pat Powers

From my mailbox:

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We’ve heard through the grapevine that Billie Sutton is trying to convince voters a state income tax wouldn’t fly with him. Really?! Because in 2015, he didn’t just float the idea in a Task Force meeting – he did a poll to test out if South Dakotans would buy what he’s selling on the state income tax.

Check this out >> Billie Sutton helped fund a poll asking South Dakotans what they would be supportive of doing:

A. Increase the state’s sales tax by one cent per dollar – just during the summer monthsB. Increase state taxes on big corporations that operate in South Dakota but are headquartered in other states.

C. Increase the state tax on car rentals, hotels and motels

D. Start an income tax on people making over 500 thousand a year

What about NOT increasing taxes? Kristi Noem has pledged to veto tax hikes; Billie Sutton called that pledge “dangerous.”

– Fact Check Gnomes

9 thoughts on “Fact Check Gnome – Billie Sutton helped fund poll to see if an income tax would fly in SD”

  1. No tax increases. If we tax the small number of SD households earning $500,000 or more, many will move away — a departure that hurts the state economy. We won’t collect tax enough revenue to fund government. What then? Drop the income tax threshold to 400, then 200, then 150…

    Instead: Let’s *attract* high-income residents. If we welcome the successful professionals now fleeing over-taxed, over-crowded cities (e.g. Chicago, LA, and NYC) our land & home values will rise. Service industry jobs will multiply. Our tax base grows & the whole state benefits.

    1. Successful people don’t come to backwards states unless they run an immoral business. Rich people actually understand the value of a good education and they don’t want to live where they have to ship their kids away to learn.

      1. South Dakota is not backwards. Most cities offer good schools K-12. Several qualify as excellent by any metric. Are you saying local colleges and universities need improvement?

    1. I see nothing that indicates James Nord, who wrote AP article, contacted Noem’s campaign before publication.

    2. I don’t see anywhere in here that says he’s the one who distributed it. What page? And if it does they should Circle back with AP to try to get them to retract it.

  3. Billy Sutton says pledges are dangerous? Oh, like the oath all legislators take as well as all elected officials to uphold the law and the integrity of the office? Not willing to take an oath, now THAT’s Dangerous.

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