PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The proposed statewide tax cuts were a big topic of discussion during today’s news conferences with Democratic and Republican leadership in Pierre.

Democrats are worried there won’t even be some kind of tax relief passed this session with lawmakers working on several different proposals.

“It seems as though the House Republican Caucus is really locked into a decrease in the overall sales tax, the Republican Senate Caucus is really locked into sending out $300 checks to those who already own property. And we’re really coming together as a compromise saying why don’t we really take two cents off the sales tax on food,” Reynold Nesiba (D) Sioux Falls said.

However, Senate Republican leader Casey Crabtree says he remains confident there will be a tax reduction approved during this session as the two chambers work on different approaches.

“Do we maybe disagree slightly on what this tax cut relief would look like, well yeah. But I think that’s a good part of the process and we’ll work through that,” Casey Crabtree (R) Madison said.

Governor Kristi Noem has criticized lawmakers for defeating her bill that would have removed the state grocery tax.

Noem says she would support a 2024 ballot measure to remove the grocery tax.
Rick Weiland, a longtime Democrat and co-founder of Dakotans for Health, is considering creating a ballot measure.