As I noted in my update to yesterday’s post on Governor Rhoden’s claim that he and Kristi Noem once supported repealing South Dakota’s unusual sales tax on food, an eager reader emailed to note that as Lieutenant Governor Rhoden did indeed testify before House Appropriations on February 21, 2023, in support of Governor Noem’s proposal to lower the tax rate on food to zero percent, 2023 House Bill 1075.
Under my headline saying Rhoden “Incorrectly Claims He Supported Repealing Food Tax,” I had originally written that Rhoden had never said anything like, “You bet! Exempting groceries from sales tax is a good idea!” Chastened by my well-informed reader’s accurate note of Rhoden’s appearance supporting HB 1075, I tracked down the SDPB video of that February 21, 2023, committee hearing to review and transcribe Lt. Gov. Rhoden’s remarks in full, revise my headline, and put up an apologetic post saying, “Son of a gun! Larry really did support repealing the food tax! Here are his words, and here’s my crow breakfast.”
But I listened to his 2023 words to House Appropriations. I transcribe every one of those words below. And if you listen and read closely, you will discover that Rhoden never directly said, “We should not charge sales tax on food.” He never said, “Taxing food is bad fiscal policy.” He never even said, “Pass this bill.”
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name’s Larry Rhoden. I have the pleasure of serving as Governor Noem’s Lieutenant Governor, and, uh, the Governor’s a tough act to follow, but I wanted to opportunity to just briefly share a few of my thoughts.
As Lieutenant Governor, I’ve had a front-row seat the last four years, and I have seen the record revenue numbers that we’ve enjoyed the last three years. But that came at a price. We had a Governor who trusted the people like no other governor in our nation did. And she—and that paid dividends. We’ve had three of three years of record revenue numbers in three consecutive years. I think—I think Representative Venhuizen is right that that has to be a record. And then just last week, your committee, uh, increased those revenue estimates by a hundred million dollars.
I wanted to make a couple points. First of all, we owe that to the people of South Dakota, because they had the chance to accomplish what they did because Governor Noem did what she did. She respected their freedom. And I know the Governor would never toot her own horn, so I will do it for her. She is responsible for those record revenues. And she’s earned the right to work with you to return those record revenues back to the people of South Dakota. She knew that this was a tax cut they wanted, and today she brought you the data to prove it.
So it…and…end by saying this, to each of you as members of this committee: at the very least, you owe it to the Governor to bring this bill to the floor for full debate. At the very least, you owe it to the people of South Dakota to bring it to the floor for a full debate.
Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee [Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, testimony in support of 2025 House Bill 1075, House Appropriations, 2023.02.21, transcribed from SDPB video, starting 1:02:40].
Rhoden spoke for two minutes and five seconds—125 seconds. He spent the first 88 seconds—70% of his speech—saying his boss was awesome. In the remaining 37 seconds, he suggested that her awesomeness entitles her to some special consideration from legislators. He invoked popular support for the tax cut. He closed by saying the Governor and the people deserve a full floor debate on this bill.
“…bring it to the floor for a full debate.” Twice Rhoden said that. Not “Pass this bill.” Just debate it.
In 125 seconds, Rhoden did not make an argument against taxing food. Rhoden spoke generically of returning tax revenues to the people of South Dakota, but he did not even mention repealing the sales tax on food specifically—the closest he came was his statement, “She knew this was a tax cut they wanted…”, with “this” an antecedentless pronoun and “they wanted” subtly denying ownership of or investment in specifics of HB 1075. With minor modification of the one sentence referring to the Ohio Republican robocallers’ poll that Noem paid for, Rhoden could have made this same brief speech in support of any tax cut proposal, like 2023 HB 1137, Senator Chris Karr’s reduction of the sales tax rate on everything from 4.5% to 4.2%, which House Approps approved right before Noem and Rhoden came in.
Maybe the Lieutenant Governor was just showing exceptional and decorous Executive deference to the Legislative Branch… though I think deference is out the window when the Second Floor marches the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor down to a committee hearing to push a bill.
Or maybe Rhoden knew Noem’s bill didn’t have the votes—and it didn’t: it failed House Approps that day 8–1, the same margin by which the committee that same day passed Karr’s general tax cut—and dutifully dragged himself up to Room 362 because Kristi told him to be there but by gum wasn’t going to make himself look like a goof by going all fire-and-brimstone in on a policy that the record shows he doesn’t believe in and that was doomed to fail that day.
Eager readers, I welcome your further links and minutes and articles and other documents that may enlighten us all as to Larry Rhoden’s stance on charging sales tax on food.
But on February 21, 2023, before House Appropriations, Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden didn’t really support repealing South Dakota’s tax on food. He supported his boss, like a good Lieutenant should.
Now, back to my crow-free breakfast….
p.s.: And come on, Larry: those record revenues came from inflation and federal stimulus. Retailers’ lobbyist Nathan Sanderson said so in January 2023 before House Taxation:
“We would submit to you that this is not a sustainable proposition,” said Nathan Sanderson, Executive Director for the South Dakota Retailers Association. “And that the record revenues that you are seeing are largely a result of 8% inflation this year, and 4.7% inflation last year, and a whole slew of federal funds we have gotten in the last couple years” [Austin Goss, “SD House Committee Passes Grocery Tax Cut Bill,” KSFY, 2023.01.27].