The big property-tax break bill is in the hopper. On Tuesday, Representative Trish Ladner (R-30/Hot Springs) filed House Bill 1043, her interim tax committee’s proposal to exempt the first $100,000 of value of your primary home.
HB 1043 isn’t complicated: it offers this tax relief in a single sentence:
One hundred thousand dollars of the full and true value of each owner-occupied single-family dwelling is exempt from property taxation levied pursuant to §10-12-29 [House Bill 1043, filed 2023.01.10].
Governor Kristi Noem must be finding her sales-tax break harder to write. She acceded to the wisdom of Democrats’ long-proposed repeal South Dakota’s unusual food tax at the end of September, explained her budget thinking on the cut at the beginning of December, and promoted the food-tax repeal again in her opening day speech to the Legislature Tuesday. Yet as of this morning, there is no food-tax repeal among the 115 bills already filed. Nor have any other bills requested by the Governor appeared.
Like the property-tax relief bill, the food-tax repeal can be written in a single sentence. Ballot measure organization Dakotans for Health submitted two versions of the idea as initiatives back in August. Dakotans for Health submitted two-sentence versions of its food-tax repeal in November to address then-Attorney General Mark Vargo’s inexplicably wrong reading of the measure. Even if Governor Noem is really busy recruiting Beltway baton-twirlers for her Presidential campaign, she could easily crib Dakotans for Health’s text.
If repealing the food tax to help South Dakotans deal with Bidenflation is such a high priority for this Administration, and if the fiscal math is so easy, you’d think the Governor would have submitted a bill on the issue by now. The Legislature’s property-tax break bill is already filed and on its way to House Taxation; where’s the food-tax repeal?
Republicans are a little flat on taxes.
If this passes, will it mean that the counties will be reassessing all properties to ensure adequate income?
WillyNilly, I had a similar thought about local efforts for school funding so that the state is not left holding the bag when it comes to bankrolling schools.
HB 1043 rates 6 of 10 for helping SD residents.
To gain another 3 points addendum a break to landlords for cutting rents at the same percentage as the break they’re going to get.
So this evidently means I will have NO – ZERO property tax bills from her-on out – at least for a while? I don’t like that at all. I need to feel like a contributor to my community(s).
Keep an eye on this one; Cammack is on the bill, likely going amend in a large benefit for Ag
GOP leader Will Mortenson is quoted as saying nobody should have to pay any taxes. I agree. I’m tired of paying taxes to prop up socialist government agendas like road construction, police, and fire services. I’ve never driven on most of the roads I helped pay for, have never called a fireman, and to quote Commander Cody, “doing my best to stay away from the law.” Those things should all be run by private companies and paid for on a toll, subscription, or as needed basis.
@Phil – “I’m tired of …” is a “pseudo victim’s” line. Is that how you want to be labeled? As a MAGA fake victim? Or maybe just a conservative whiner and complainer? Hmmm?
The other night I had this wierd dream where my little brother and I were riding in the backseat of Mom and Dad’s Rambler in the winter ice ruts going east on 10th avenue between South 3rd and 2nd Street in Aberdeen in the mid ‘60’s. I made a joke nobody got and remarked, “I guess my humor is just too subtle for the average mind,” which seemed witty to the Folks, but it was just a quote from a Peanuts cartoon.
The NDS rages, while these silly property tax bills float like cheap party balloons having escaped from a used car lot. Check your NDS, and do what the young people call “chilling.”
I am sure we will probably see many food tax bills in the legislatures this year. Many. Mark down grudznick’s words, hear me now and grasp me later.
The property tax relief bill is a BAD BILL . Not only would the services funded by these taxes be adversely effected, but what about the small towns throughout our state. While property values (homes) has risen steadily in the past (my rural Grant County residence was built in 1993 for $150,000—2023 replacement cost for insurance purposes $450,000 ), small town values have lagged behind in the growth. In rural South Dakota a home that is newly constructed is a rare commodity. Most of these communities are based on older homes built in the post WW2 era. Granted these homes are in a large part maintained very well and have retained value. However their value has not risen as fast as the cost of new construction. Thus small towns have become a haven for individuals who want to retire in a quiet area and have services that they do not want to provide for themselves (snow removal, sewer, etc.). Or they are people who live in one town and commute to another to work and obtain services such as groceries and fuel (no different then living in eastern Sioux Falls and communting to work in northwestern Sioux Falls). The point is that a large number of these small communites property values would decrease and then the tax base would be decreased. The result would be a lower revenue source for these small towns to operate on and provide services to their residents.
South Dakota has two main revenue sources: sales taxes and property taxes. Lower the available funds available from one source and the other must make up the difference if services are to be maintained. The other choice is to provide additional funding sources. The most obvious source: a state income tax.
Do South Dakotans want a state income tax?
WillyNilly: for your information the counties are continually reassessing property values. In Grant County, all property is revalued with on-site reappraisal every 5 years. The State of South Dakota Department of Revenue mandates that this be accomplished and will go into each county and force the county to raise valuations if they feel that properties are not within a certain valuation range.
Note that this only applies to the school district levy. All other local property taxes would still apply.