The Bureau of Finance and Management has posted the disappointing sales tax revenue data for which Governor Kristi Noem was bracing us last week. In the first six months of Noem’s reign in Pierre, South Dakota sales tax revenues met the Legislature’s revised budget expectations only once, in the merry merry month of May:
The state still managed to take in over a billion dollars in sales tax over Fiscal Year 2019, 3.7% more than last fiscal year… but the Legislature was counting on 4.7% more. For the year, we fell short on sales tax by $9.9 million. Overall, we came up $4.4 million short from our revised winter budget projections.
Luckily, we didn’t hire too many members of the Noem clan: BFM reports that thanks to frugal spending, the state covered the revenue shortfall and then some, finishing the fiscal year with a $19.4-million surplus. In raw dollars, this is the largest surplus since FY 2015 and just a million under the previous seven-year average of $20.3 million. As a percentage of actual expenditures, the FY2019 surplus is 1.25% of the $1.556 billion in general fund personal services and operating expenditures reported today, slightly below the 1.51% average surplus of actual expenditures over the previous seven budget years
And remember: revenue isn’t everything. Our tobacco tax revenue fell below $50 million, down 7.7% from last year. The Legislature only expected a 4.2% decline. All of you good neighbors buying fewer smokes are doing everyone’s lungs a favor, including your own. Revenue from alcohol taxes (beverage tax plus wholesale tax) stayed flat, but lottery revenues beat expectations, jumping 6.1%. One sin tax down; now we’ve got to get more people to kick those other two!
Looks like the cry that the internet was ruining Main Street is a hoax. Not has much as the Chamber of Commerce wanted us to believe.
Maybe time for Noem group to cut spending
Seems like we need more good ol’ fashioned smokin’, drinkin’, and gamblin’. I’m just sayin…
… almost 80% of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, … the havoc so many families are living in.
Meanwhile, the costs of education, childcare, housing, and healthcare are soaring. Trump hasn’t done a thing to help. If anything, he’s made everything worse. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/19/trump-economy-americans-voters-unemployment
But Kristi’s model, Trump, presents a stark example she just showed us at GIRLS STATE and getting booted out of
one Lakota reservation for promoting stupid tar sands policy. This vid explains her model as concisely as i have seen; a masterpiece. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAdNs8oXZo
Thank you, leslie. Excellent video of Ms. Harris exposing Trump’s method. He wants we moderate, centrist, Democrats to act out like he does. It distracts from his trade policies, immigration policies, and his pedophilia/rape accusations. Dems need to be calm and work towards calming the waters of America.
The economy is in the tank and getting worse like a slow boil. We cannot turn this economy around with the same old same old. When IKEA packs up to leave, ya know there is something drastically wrong.
“This week, Ikea announced that it will be cutting 300 jobs by closing its only U.S. manufacturing hub. The facility is located in Danville, Virginia, and has been operating since 2008.
The Danville factory’s primary role was producing wood-based furniture, primarily shelves and storage units, for stores in the United States and Canada. Ikea plans to move the production to Europe to—somewhat paradoxically—be able to keep costs low in its North America stores.” https://www.fastcompany.com/90375880/ikea-is-closing-its-only-u-s-factory
Stock market is high…so what? Dollar is high…so what? Real unemployment numbers are dreadful with too many people working at two or three jobs to alive. This economy is great if you’re rich, but if you’re a working person, it sucks.
National Economy: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/19/trump-economy-americans-voters-unemployment
Second must view/read:
Distraction president (best summary i have heard. Short, unequivocal.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAdNs8oXZo