There should be only ONE tax exemption; FOOD!

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Would I have to pay a tax on this? It was once food, but now is a boat. Hmmmm?

This list of tax exemptions will just baffle your mind. We can’t seem to find it in our hearts to lift the tax on food, but boy, advertising and boats need to be tax exempt. Which is kinda odd, because you can use a boat to get food. Megan ‘Patron’ Luther lays it down (and somehow mysteriously avoids mentioning taxing advertising – I’m sure her fine editors at work);

Joy Smolnisky, director of the South Dakota Budget & Policy Project, a nonprofit fiscal policy organization affiliated with South Dakota Voices for Children, urged the legislators to study sales tax exemptions, also known as a tax expenditure report. The exemptions range from coin-operated laundry to lotto tickets, according to a 2009 Department of Revenue study.

“We don’t know when they were put in place, how they were trended over time and if they continue to meet their initial intent,” she said.

South Dakota is one of only seven states that does not conduct a tax expenditure, Smolnisky said.

Imagine that? A Republican controlled state protecting the rich from from taxes. Get outta here! I guess if we can’t kill the poor, we can at least tax them to death.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8zhNb8ANe8[/youtube]

Taxing the rich more is the ONLY way to pull us out of this economic mess

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This is a very well written letter about the importance of taxing the wealthy more;

My long years allow me to remember how our maximum federal income tax rates varied from 64 percent to 94 percent for the 50 years before President Reagan took office, including a maximum rate of 90 percent during all eight years of the Eisenhower presidency. Eisenhower defended the high tax rate by suggesting to the wealthy that “it is in your enlightened self-interest to help create a more just and humane society.” He knew that it is only through our taxes that we together build a society.

Exactly. It is like what I say about paying property taxes though I have no children, it is an investment for our society and a more educated society makes my life better.

Does the city of SF have too much debt to support bonding an Events Center?

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They often tell us we can support more debt but one wonders after such slow growth;

The city’s primary operating fund, the General Fund, ended the year with an unreserved fund balance of $41.7 million, an increase of $0.6 million.

The city’s primary capital fund, the Sales and Use Tax Fund, focused on the city’s significant investment to rebuild, repair and replace core infrastructure. It ended the year with an unobligated fund balance of $3.8 million.

The city ended the year with total outstanding debt of $277 million.

Build an Events Center and we could see ourselves inching to a half-billion dollars of debt. In a community where most people make under $30,000 a year. I’m no economist, but if we want to fund an Events Center, we need to do it in a different way. A corporate entertainment tax and advertising tax is what I would like to see.

A Sales Tax increase? Get out the pitchforks and torches.

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I guess these two clowns love to make enemies;

Sen. Stan Adelstein and Rep. Don Kopp come from opposite sides of Rapid City’s Republican community, but the two lawmakers might have a common cause on one controversial issue this legislative session: a temporary sales tax increase.

For Adelstein, preventing sharp cuts to education by raising tax revenue is at the top of his agenda in Pierre.

“I don’t think people have realized how popular this is compared to the cuts,” Adelstein said of his proposal to raise the sales tax from 3 percent to 4 percent during the summer months for a three-year period.

Give me a break, taxes never go away. In 3 years you will be asking to keep it. I have a better idea;

MAKE CUTS TO THE BLOATED ADMINISTRATIVE STATE GOVERNMENT THAT ROUNDS CREATED!

And if that doesn’t work, I suggest plan ‘B’ An income tax on South Dakotans making over $150,000 a year. It’s time the rich ponied up in this state instead forcing the poor and middle class to carry all the water.

But this shouldn’t surprise anyone, these are the same goons who believe Mexicans are over taking our state;

Kopp believes illegal immigration is a problem for South Dakota, and he wants to go after what he sees as the cause: businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Under Kopp’s legislation, if a business “knowingly hires an illegal” immigrant, it would face a $500 fine for the first offense and a $1,000 fine for the second.

Oooooh. Such a tough penalty. It should be six months to a year in the Penn for hiring illegals. This is just overkill anyway, because their are already Federal laws preventing employers from hiring illegals.

But for some reason South Dakota legislators know better then the rest of the country. I mean, Who else is to thank for being ranked 49-50th on everything, year after year, after year . . .