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Noem Taxes Baby Food to Subsidize Concealed Weapons

Governor Kristi Noem is using NRA ratings to claim that the man challenging her in this year’s election, Representative Jamie Smith (D-15/Sioux Falls), is “out of touch with South Dakotans” and “endangering families“. Smith’s colleague across the Rotunda and Sioux Falls neighbor Senator Reynold Nesiba (D-15/Sioux Falls) says Noem’s gun-nuttiness is the real daily danger to South Dakota families:

Reynold Nesiba, tweet, 2022.09.27.
Sen. Reynold Nesiba, tweet, 2022.09.27.

Nesiba exaggerates not one whit: Noem pushed for 2022 Senate Bill 212, under which the state pays for the cost of background checks for folks who want to tote pistols in their pants, blowing a hole in the budget at the same time that Noem said the state couldn’t afford to stop taxing baby food.

Extreme Kristi Noem is pandering to the NRA by taxing baby food. That’s out of touch with South Dakota.

29 Comments

  1. All Mammal 2022-09-28 08:16

    What is wrong with her? She is not fit for filing her own nails with a pointy object, let alone fit for office. And this woman has a job and somehow managed to bring up whelps while being this heartless and errant? I’m amazed she didn’t burn the house down cooking acetone on the electric skillet. What a crackhead. Git ‘er, Mr. Smith!

  2. mike from iowa 2022-09-28 08:33

    F rating from NRA is like Summa Cum Laude for graduates. Taxing infant food and formula to subsidize NRA desires goes a long way toward explaining the ginormous push to force all fetii be carried to term.

  3. sx123 2022-09-28 08:35

    I’d rather have people pay for their own wants and needs (if they can) in general, so I’d be against the state paying for someone to get a concealed carry permit since it is not a necessity, at all. If you can’t afford the costs of your own background check, but can still manage to afford the pistol somehow, carry it in a holster like John Wayne would.

  4. flopster 2022-09-28 11:20

    Now she is proposing no sales food tax. What a phony-baloney. Trying to ‘buy’ more votes, and perhaps a little scared of Friday debate coming. ? Go Jamie.
    Where was she the past 4 years for no sales tax on food proposals ? Oh that’s right – jetting around the nation, waving her hands in the air “look at me, pick me” ! Like a 1st grader wanting desperately to be picked for the team, the national team ! A 1st grader, that’s about her intelligence, integrity level.

  5. WillyNilly 2022-09-28 11:30

    It seems the party currently in power kills all sorts of legislation that would improve the lives of the state’s citizens. Then around election time they begin to throw out suggestions of promises of future legislation that people have wanted for years. As soon as the election is over all is forgotten. I have a long memory and I don’t forget. Liars gonna lie.

  6. P. Aitch 2022-09-28 11:34

    As we say in France, “The violin never knows when it’s being played. It thinks it always sounds that beautiful.” – Let me translate that for the descendants of the Germans from Russia who are the majority SDGOP.
    “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” aka the state income tax (on the wealthy) your Governor is having drafted will be much easier to swallow when it’s offset by her elimination of grocery taxes.
    Big Mike Wyland is already complaining. That means it’s good for liberals.

  7. Bill C 2022-09-28 11:35

    Well that happened fast! I hope she remembers to cite the people who developed the plan for years.

    “Only be sure always to call it, please, ‘research'” (Lehrer, 1953)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlfXirQF3A

    Lehrer, T: 1953: “Lobachevsky,” Songs by Tom Lehrer, Lehrer Records.

  8. Arlo Blundt 2022-09-28 14:16

    Video Lottery, Pay Day Loans, Sales tax on food and clothing, non existent affordable housing in municipalities with a competitive job market, subsidies for employers who keep their hourly wage at the minimum, a very favorable tax code for those in the upper income brackets, the beat goes on. When the poor break into the homes of the wealthy to kill them in their sleep, we will all be well armed to fight off the onslaught.

  9. larry kurtz 2022-09-28 17:19

    Now Emperor Schoenbeck is calling Mrs. Noem a liar.

  10. AnneBeal 2022-09-28 17:37

    I thought they just repealed the sales tax on groceries please explain how baby food isn’t included in groceries.

  11. Marie 2022-09-28 17:55

    More guns–more gun violence.

    The Trace and CDC report that NRA’s A+ Gov. Noem’s “family friendly” U.S. 2021 Gun Death toll rose to 48,832—up 8% from 45,222 in 2020.

    South Dakota’s 2021 Gun Death toll continued upward to 128—from 56 in 2000, 75 in 2021, 120 in 2020.

    The NRA’s A+ rated Gov. Noem and South Dakota Republican legislators–as well as
    South Dakota Congressmen Thune, Rounds, and Johnson–do not acknowledge this carnage
    as they pass NRA-sponsored legislation, block significant federal gun control legislation, and take campaign contributions from the gun industry.

    One can only wonder what conversations they have with their children and grandchildren as yet another school year begins with active shooter drills.

    9-8-2022 The Trace
    Gun Deaths Hit an All-Time High (Again) in 2021
    https://www.thetrace.org/2022/09/gun-deaths-cdc-2021-record/

    9-1-2022 Reveal
    Stand Your Ground Laws Are Proliferating. And More People Are Dying.
    https://revealnews.org/article/stand-your-ground-laws-increase-deaths/

    https://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/compareyears/329/total_number_of_gun_deaths

  12. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-09-28 20:11

    Anne, your Republican friends in the House hoghoused 2022 Senate Bill 117 last March in a last-minute effort to press their feud with Governor Noem by repealing the food tax, but your Republican friends in the Senate killed that bill immediately. South Dakota is still one of just 13 states taxing people’s food and one of only three states applying the full sales tax rate thereto.

    But now, Anne, your Republican friend in the Governor’s Mansion (oh, wait—she’s off campaigning in Rapid City for most of the week) is promising to cut the food tax… which Jamie Smith has been advocating throughout his career in Pierre. It sure is nice when your Republican friends realize the wisdom of good Democratic ideas. It restores my faith that we could all just get along and pass good policy.

  13. DF 2022-09-28 22:07

    Is this an editorial or a news article? Clearly the author is injecting his opinion, especially when he puts “extreme” in front of “Noem”.

    He’s following the president’s playbook.

  14. O 2022-09-29 08:15

    Marie, it’s almost like the evidence would show that guns kill people!

  15. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-09-29 12:40

    hey, DEF: who said I wasn’t editorializing? And in what way does my editorializing call into the question any of the facts presented? Kristi Noem takes money from baby food tax and gives it to gun owners. Don’t you think prioritizing Pistols hidden in peoples’ pants over food in babies’ tummies is just a little extreme?

  16. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-09-29 12:42

    and hey: if I can’t use the word extreme to describe Kristi’s Policies, then why does she get to use the word extreme to describe Jamie’s policies?

  17. Bob Newland 2022-09-29 12:52

    DF: Seriously? Your best effort is to accuse an acknowledged editorial publisher of “injecting his opinion?”

    You really know how to tighten the thumbscrews.

  18. leslie 2022-09-29 23:29

    i dont follow noem clisely but as she often behaved like trump, now she behaves like putin, here enabling, and subsidizing gun violence potential while taxing food to the potential detriment of … babies!

    I mentioned Russian subterfuge and sanctions retaliation of Danish energy pipelines in a recent, related post here, but “we should recognize that this move is not a sign of strength, but of desperation. Russia’s economy is faltering, its military is sub-par, and Putin’s grip on power may weaken in months, if not weeks.

    This is not the first time the Russians have…transparently lied about energy infrastructure damage to weaponize their energy resources or geographical position as a transit country. Multiple prewar disputes with Ukraine, Finland, the Baltics, and recent attempts to hold Kazakhstan’s energy exports hostage due to its defiance regarding Ukraine stand out as examples. In every case, the Russians obfuscated by blaming “storms,” “poor equipment,” and even a rubber duck to drum up plausible deniability.

    However, the attacks on Nord Stream are more dire than anything we previously saw. This act of sabotage signals a point of no return. The economic damage caused by these attacks is going to land Europe in a recession as deep as the recession of 2009.”

    [Russia now BLAMES the US for the undersea explosions! Trumpy! Noem-istic even.]

    One may be tempted to ask why would the Russians bother with sabotage and denial? After all, hostility towards Ukraine and Europe is neither novel nor secret. The shutoff of gas from sabotage does not fundamentally change Russia’s stated aims or enacted strategy. The answer lies in the strength of Western financial institutions, Russia’s lack of leverage or soft power, and the devastating impacts sanctions are having against Russia. If Nord Stream is shut down suddenly through “force majeure”, a sudden uncontrollable stop that is the fault of neither party, then Russia can void its obligations towards European stakeholders without legally breaking contracts, thus dodging the many penalties in doing so.

    The other great reason Putin is expending so much effort in pursuit of such a transparent strategy lies in his domestic vulnerability. By ending all possible routes for gas delivery resumption with the West and making rapprochement more difficult, Russian oligarchs who have not yet fallen out of a window, but may still be wavering in their dedication to Putin, have no choice to acquiesce to his leadership.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2022/09/29/russian-sabotage-of-the-nord-stream-pipeline-mark-a-point-of-no-return/?sh=3533751a5dba

  19. Anne Beal 2022-09-29 23:54

    please explain why baby food is being selectively taxed?
    If we pay sales tax on groceries, that includes baby food. If we aren’t going to pay sales tax on groceries, that includes baby food. Why are you so worried about the baby food? Buy a blender or food processor and make your own. It’s really easy; just make up batches and freeze them in small jelly jars. What’s the problem?

    The “free” pistol permits only became “free” recently and the sales tax on groceries has been in effect almost forever. So they aren’t related issues.

    I think repealing the sales tax on food is a bad idea as we are going to need that money to pay for Medicaid expansion.

  20. leslie 2022-09-30 00:05

    Kristi thought the next big thing was—how original—guns.

    But how about solar? Louisiana is getting into battery production in a big way. Vanadium batteries. And supply logistics. (SDSMT is a mining school? Hmmmmm)

    The Long-Sought Step-Change In Renewable Energy Battery Tech May Have Arrived, by David Blackmon is a Texas-based public policy energy consultant

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2022/09/29/the-long-sought-step-change-in-renewable-energy-battery-tech-may-have-arrived/?sh=152f2e9f3025

    2014–

    https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092760_are-vanadium-flow-batteries-the-solution-to-too-much-solar-power

  21. Arlo Blundt 2022-09-30 00:09

    Anne, you’ve hit the nail on the head. It would appear one aspect of Governor Noem’s sudden revelation concerning sales taxes on groceries is it can come down to one or the other. Either the sales tax repeal or Medicaid expansion. That, would be a chaotic legislative food fight, just the type of chaos Mrs. Noem savors.The result well could be neither reform being adopted and we plod on.

  22. leslie 2022-09-30 00:10

    oh no, wasn’t the money available for the last decade under the ACA (Obama Care) but Republicans… well, you know about obstructionism!

    Another bad idea from the GOP and solely owned little red states, eh?

  23. Anne Beal 2022-09-30 05:17

    I still don’t understand why CAH thinks baby food is being selectively taxed. It’s either taxed just like other grocery items, or it will not be.

  24. Donald Pay 2022-09-30 08:43

    I’ve heard Republican politicians since Janklow’s first term talk about how the sales tax needs to be broad. There can be no exceptions. Of course, there are, but very few compared to most states. These same Republican politicians say that various fees for permits, such as gun permit background checks, are taxes. Now, if you selectively give people a break on fees, which are, according to Republicans, taxes, while keeping a tax on baby food, you are selectively taxing various items, at least according to the Republican framing of the issue. Now, Anne, are you suggesting we get serious about the idea of taxation and unhitch it from Republican ideology? That would be a good idea.

  25. grudznick 2022-09-30 09:23

    Mr. Pay, what should we tax and what should we not tax?

  26. Donald Pay 2022-09-30 11:59

    Mr. Grudz, “We” has me wondering why you ask. As a Wisconsin resident, I really don’t have a say in it. When I was a South Dakota resident, I supported an income tax. I saw that tax as a replacement for sales tax on food and non-food staples, for a property tax reduction and for additional support for K-12 education.

    I can say I pay income taxes, but no sales tax on food in Wisconsin.

  27. Anne Beal 2022-10-01 12:45

    Donald, since I haven’t bought any baby food lately and made almost all I ever used myself, I went to Walmart.com and compared prices.
    A 12-jar pack of Gerber Meat Lover Variety costs $14.14.
    A 12-jar pack of empty 4 ounce mason jars is $11.97, so the food in the Gerber 12- pack is worth only $2.17
    Most of what you are paying for when you buy baby food is the jars it’s packed in.
    They are very useful for storing odd buttons, pins,thumbtacks, paper clips, nuts, bolts, screws & nails. Everybody wants empty baby food jars.
    So it’s the jars you are paying sales tax on, not the food that’s in them.
    I hope that makes you feel better,
    Now get a food processor and make baby food at home. It’s easy.

  28. Donald Pay 2022-10-01 13:08

    Anne, Yeah, we never bought baby food. Even back in the 1980s it was a rip off. We bought real food and mashed it up. Far, far less cost, far better for the baby and not that much extra work. The food industry as a whole is a racket. Paying for packaging is not my idea of food.

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