Farmers Union chief Doug Sombke continues to press for a fuel-tax holiday, now expanding his call from a 90-day break on diesel tax to a reduction of the state tax on diesel and gasoline from 28 cents per gallon to a penny per gallon.
Alas, Sombke chooses poor words to justify his pitch for a tax break:
“The governor says this all the time, that agriculture is king, and you hear it from legislators as well,” said South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke. “So, then let’s treat it as such, and let’s make sure that we take care of it as such” [Meghan O’Brien, “South Dakota Farmers Union Asks Governor and Lawmakers to Approve a State Fuel Tax Holiday,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.10.09].
Whether agriculture is the king of South Dakota’s economy or not, it benefits from and imposes costs on public infrastructure. We charge drivers a fuel tax to pay for that infrastructure. Whether they are wearing crowns or seed caps, farmers need to pay fuel taxes to pay their fair share of the cost of maintaining the roads that their tractors and combines and heavy-laden harvest trucks clog and crush every fall.
As America suffers under the usurpation of its Presidency by a self-styled monarch, it’s kind of important that we resist the notion that we should exempt kings, bosses, and other elites from taxes and other social obligations.