Current:Home > Contact-usSouth Dakota food tax debate briefly resurfaces, then sinks-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
South Dakota food tax debate briefly resurfaces, then sinks
View Date:2024-12-23 22:48:01
Arguments over eliminating South Dakota’s food tax resumed this month — a top issue in recent years that quickly ended Monday with the Senate’s defeat of a ballot proposal for voters.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba proposed a November 2024 ballot measure for voters to lower the food tax to zero and to repeal a four-year sales tax cut passed last year. The temporary tax cut was a major issue of the 2023 session.
In an interview, Nesiba called his proposal “revenue-neutral” and eliminating the food tax “highly popular.” His measure would allow the Legislature more control over the process than a separate, proposed 2024 ballot initiative to repeal the grocery tax, he said. Voters are likely to pass that initiated measure, he said.
Some lawmakers grumbled about the initiative process in a hearing on Friday.
“Voters are smart, but they’re not here studying these issues and knowing where all our sales tax dollars go and what needs to be funded and all those other inputs. That’s why they send us here,” Republican Sen. Joshua Klumb said.
Republican Sen. John Wiik cited last session’s food tax battle, saying, “I have no desire to spend another session trying to push a rope up a hill.
“This Legislature passed record tax relief last year, and I have no desire to roll that tax rate back up,” Wiik told the Senate.
Senate debate quickly ended. The measure died in a 5-27 vote.
In 2022, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem campaigned for reelection on a promise to repeal the grocery tax, but the Legislature instead passed the temporary sales tax cut of about $104 million per year. In her December budget address, Noem asked lawmakers to make the tax cut permanent.
The GOP-held House of Representatives quickly passed a bill last month to that effect, but Senate budget writers soon tabled it.
On Thursday, Republican House Majority Leader Will Mortenson told reporters “we’re going to continue to work with our partners in the Senate and see if we can find a way forward on it.”
Nothing is dead until the session ends, he added.
veryGood! (3154)
Related
- Judge moves to slash $38 million verdict in New Hampshire youth center abuse case
- Dex Carvey, Dana Carvey's son, dies at age 32
- The Paris Olympics scales back design of a new surf tower in Tahiti after criticism from locals
- Man convicted in death of woman whose body was found in duffel bag along rural road
- Maryland man wanted after 'extensive collection' of 3D-printed ghost guns found at his home
- TikTok cracks down on posts about Osama bin Laden's Letter to America amid apparent viral trend
- Officer fires gun in Atlanta hospital while pursuing vehicle theft suspect
- Virgin Galactic launches fifth commercial flight to sub-orbital space and back
- 4 charged in Detroit street shooting that left 2 dead, 5 wounded
- Escaped murderer back in court over crimes authorities say he committed while on the run
Ranking
- Suicides in the US military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend
- Nepal bans TikTok for 'disrupting social harmony,' demands regulation of social media app
- The Good Samaritan is also a lobsterman: Maine man saves person from sinking car
- More than 2,400 Ukrainian children taken to Belarus, a Yale study finds
- 'Gladiator 2' review: Yes, we are entertained again by outrageous sequel
- Prosecutors prep evidence for Alec Baldwin 'Rust' shooting grand jury: What you need to know
- CBS announces 2024 primetime premiere dates for new and returning series
- The Best Early Black Friday Toy Deals of 2023 at Amazon, Target, Walmart & More
Recommendation
-
Jordan Chiles Reveals She Still Has Bronze Medal in Emotional Update After 2024 Olympics Controversy
-
British author A.S. Byatt, best known for award-winning 'Possession,' dies at 87
-
Economic fact in literary fiction
-
Atlanta train derailment causes fire and diesel fuel spill after 2 trains collide
-
Will Aaron Rodgers retire? Jets QB tells reporters he plans to play in 2025
-
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez beat the odds to stay prime minister. Now he must keep his government in power
-
'Once-in-a-lifetime dream': Mariah Carey gushes over her own Barbie doll
-
Billie Eilish Says She Never Felt Truly Like a Woman