SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Depending on how lawmakers vote, South Dakotans could soon see a new tax cut; legislators on Tuesday will hear proposals on three prospective cuts. House Bill 1137 would change the sales tax rate from 4.5 to 4% on goods and services, House Bill 1043 would bring a $300 tax credit for homeowners and House Bill 1075 would drop the sales tax on groceries to 0%.
Republican Rep. Tyler Tordsen took to Twitter Sunday night for a poll asking people which of the three tax cuts they’d like to see happen. As of Monday afternoon, the runaway winning response was to drop the sales tax on groceries.
“We’re past the halfway point in session now,” Tordsen said. “We’re getting down to the end, we’re looking at finalizing the budget. Last week the legislature locked in our revenue estimates, and so I wanted to see just kind of a raw kind of straw poll, if you will, on Twitter.”
Tordsen says he likes all three proposals. Democratic Sen. Reynold Nesiba, who like Tordsen represents Minnehaha County in Pierre, retweeted the poll.
“I think that Twitter poll is about as good as what I found knocking on doors talking to people, and my sense of knocking on doors with people is they’d like to see the sales tax on food reduced,” Nesiba said.
As they’re written right now, the tax credit for homeowners and sales tax cut for goods and services do not have Nesiba’s support. Dropping the sales tax on groceries, however, does. He thinks that proposal is the only one of these with a shot at eventually receiving the governor’s signature.
“My sense is dead on arrival in the Senate in its current form, but if we can get two cents off this year and then we can come back and take a look next year, I think that would be the, just sort of the political, plausible way forward,” Nesiba said.
All three proposals are scheduled to be heard in a meeting of the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday.
“Trying to see where we’re going to settle on as a caucus overall and the legislative body overall, I think in the next couple of days here we’re going to really iron out and see what’s going to be the best one going forward,” Tordsen said.