Remote online vendors reported and remitted $10.6 million in state sales tax and $3.77 million in city sales tax in July. Online shoppers in Sioux Falls chipped in $1.49 million in city sales tax, 39.6% of the total municipal sales tax collected from remote sellers in July. Given that Sioux Falls makes up only 21.7% of South Dakota’s population, our biggest-city residents appear to do a lot more shopping online than the average South Dakotan… which is funny, because one would think that, with all those wonderful stores on Phillips and 41st and Louise and around the metro, Sioux Falls residents could find more of what they need and want in town instead of having to resort to Amazon et al.
I compared city sales tax collected from remote sellers in July with the total city sales tax reported (because that’s what one does with a sunny summer day in Aberdeen!) and found that, in the 25 cities collecting the most city sales tax from remote sellers, those online collections made up 7.95% of the total collections:
| City | Remote City Sales Tax Due |
Total City |
Remote/Total |
| Sioux Falls | $1,493,888 | $16,030,490 | 9.32% |
| Rapid City | $478,386 | $7,442,469 | 6.43% |
| Aberdeen | $147,271 | $2,032,672 | 7.25% |
| Brookings | $113,139 | $1,526,582 | 7.41% |
| Watertown | $112,473 | $1,931,989 | 5.82% |
| Pierre | $84,536 | $955,605 | 8.85% |
| Mitchell | $74,040 | $1,286,068 | 5.76% |
| Yankton | $69,087 | $1,067,758 | 6.47% |
| North Sioux City | $62,210 | $409,200 | 15.20% |
| Spearfish | $59,292 | $1,169,036 | 5.07% |
| Huron | $57,748 | $797,474 | 7.24% |
| Brandon | $41,873 | $452,957 | 9.24% |
| Box Elder | $33,395 | $364,856 | 9.15% |
| Milbank | $33,376 | $271,403 | 12.30% |
| Sturgis | $31,517 | $456,605 | 6.90% |
| Vermillion | $27,895 | $424,253 | 6.58% |
| Canton | $27,327 | $138,193 | 19.77% |
| Madison | $26,970 | $356,358 | 7.57% |
| Lead | $25,898 | $163,342 | 15.86% |
| Harrisburg | $24,327 | $265,113 | 9.18% |
| Deadwood | $22,637 | $625,306 | 3.62% |
| Tea | $20,991 | $287,046 | 7.31% |
| Belle Fourche | $20,089 | $399,495 | 5.03% |
| Custer | $17,794 | $378,326 | 4.70% |
| Burke | $17,788 | $43,421 | 40.97% |
The share of Sioux Falls city sales tax from remote vendors was 9.32%, just a bit higher than the average for these 25 top online-spending towns. North Sioux City, Milbank, Canton, Lead, and Burke all drew more than 10% of their city sales tax revenues from online collections. Someone in Burke must have ordered a lot of extra barbed wire and saddle tack online: their July online shopping appears to have exceeded that in larger towns like Dell Rapids, Mobridge, Hot Springs, Lennox, Chamberlain, and Flandreau. The $17,788 in city sales tax that Burke collected from remote vendors in July made up 40.97% of their $43,421 in total municipal collections.
Last time I was in Burke, the main street was rolled up late Fri. afternoon and not rolled back until Monday morning. Winner is the closet place to have anything.