South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

State Tourism

State Funding State Legislature State Tourism Taxes Tom Pischke

If you are visiting a tourist site, that makes you a tourist

l3wis 5Comments

Sometimes I think it may be a good idea to drug test legislators, especially when they come up with stupid crap like this. You are either brain dead or on drugs killing your brain cells;

The bill would cut the state’s tourism tax rate from 1-1/2 percent to 1 percent, which wouldn’t leave enough funding for the South Dakota Arts Council.

State Rep. Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids) sponsored the bill because he doesn’t like the way the money is collected.

“Let’s say for example, I live in Dell Rapids and I want to take my kids to the children’s museum in Brookings. So I don’t really consider myself a tourist if I drive 30 miles up to Brookings to take the kids to the Children’s Museum. But then again, I’m getting charged a tourism tax,” says Pischke.

The definition of Tourist;

a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure.

Doesn’t matter if Tom lived next door to the museum, he is still a tourist. Oh, but Tom’s argument gets even better;

Pischke says he supports the arts, but doesn’t think the tourism tax should go toward things the SculptureWalk or JazzFest, two recipients of funding from the state art council. He says the collected funds should go directly toward tourism.

Public art is tourism. Do you think people would travel to Mt. Rushmore if there wasn’t a sculpture into the side of that mountain? Where do these legislators come up with this stuff?

How many South Dakota State legislators does it take to screw in a light bulb? Zero. They would be too busy arguing over how to pay for the light bulb, in the dark.

State Legislature State Tourism

Letter Writer Nails it, Almost

l3wis 2Comments

While I enjoyed reading Erika’s letter, and she makes some great points, let’s just admit it, Denver is a much nicer place to live if you are a professional compared to Sioux Falls;

When I think of the people I know from my time in S.D. and at USD, a smile comes to my face. They are wonderful and talented. They have masters and professional degrees and successful careers. They are public policy analysts, news anchors, social media directors, teachers and doctors.

And if they all want to make better money, they leave the state, that’s just common sense. I have had several friends in the medical field that literally doubled their pay overnight by moving to places like California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas and even Nebraska with maybe a 20-30% jump in cost of living. I even have a close friend who literally built herself a small franchise clinic business in Atlanta pretty much overnight. Never would have happened here.

But besides getting paid better, there is also the social/governmental aspect of living outside of South Dakota;

I posted something on Facebook recently about the current legislative session and the hateful measures garnering national attention. I spoke not even so much about the content or the constitutionality of these bills, or the fact that it’s downright crazy they are passing through chambers of our state’s highest branch of government.

You may have answered your own question;

I don’t try to quell their stereotypes that South Dakota is full of backwoods rednecks who hate anyone who doesn’t look, act or think like them. Similarly, I answer glibly with something like “tis the season … .”

These are the very ‘rednecks’ that are running our state legislature and making the rest of us at least ‘moderate to progressive’ thinking folks look like them. If I didn’t live in Sioux Falls, I wouldn’t live in South Dakota. I often call the borders of our fine city ‘outer space’ and Pierre as ‘deep space’.

I think Sioux Falls has become more progressive over the past 4 years or so, there is a lot more diverse entertainment (mostly due to private promotion) visual arts and artists are more recognized, there is more then 2 good restaurants in town (I think we are up to about 5 now, but that number floats quite a bit due to musical chair chefs) and I honestly believe there is a lot more tolerance of the LGBT community then ever before (the city hosts a gay pride festival, just don’t park on the street or you will get ticketed). Things are getting better here, at least in Sioux Falls.

South Dakota, we love you and we miss you. And you’re right: we’ve changed. But we’re not coming back until you do.

It will be awhile before they get back to where they used to be (whenever that was) but we are coming around. Now if we could just get rid of the rednecks in the state legislature.

Lawrence and Schiller Rounds State Funding State Legislature State Tourism

Gov. Mike ‘Pants on Fire’ Rounds backpeddling again;

l3wis 0Comments

My friend Joy Crane wrote an interesting letter to the editor today about the ‘actual’ costs and revenue of tourism in our state;

A subsection under Goal 1 includes Progress Indicators, which list the actual monthly tourism and Deadwood gaming tax revenues collected from April 2007 to April 2008. A footnote states that these monthly deposits of revenue are used to fund the South Dakota Office of Tourism. The total 13-month tax revenue added up to $9,228,592.

The Jan. 11 Argus Leader article about South Dakotans feeling the money pinch in regard to Gov. Mike Rounds’ new budget contained the following: “Heidepriem, though, suggests there are notable savings to be realized. While the state Constitution ‘doesn’t say a word about tourism, we are spending $12 million this year promoting tourism in a no-bid contract with Lawrence and Schiller. Is it more important to fund K-12 education or tourism? I know what the founders tell us,’ he says.”

It appears Rounds is spending more on the annual Lawrence and Schiller no-bid contract than the total annual tourism and Deadwood gaming tax revenues collected to fund the Office of Tourism.

Well it seems Lousy & Shister are at it again, sucking off the taxpayer tit.

The Mitchell Daily Republic also did a story about it, I would have a direct link, but their site is having issues today.

Mt. Rushmore Rounds South Dakotans State Funding State Legislature State Tourism

SD is the Rushmore state . . . but what does that mean? We better advertise and let the rest of the country know.

l3wis 5Comments

I’m sure you noticed that Rounds didn’t make one single cut to tourism in his budget. His argument is tourism brings in $26 million to the state (I would like to know whose ass he pulled that number out of). For the sake of the argument, let’s suppose that’s true, but who’s to say if we cut the tourism budget or even did no advertising at all except on inexpensive websites, people wouldn’t come to visit our state anyway? I mean, how many people who take summer vacations don’t know where Mt. Rushmore is? If they don’t know, they don’t deserve to visit anyway.

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