Could the 1% sales tax increase make it out of committee?

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What’s the best way to pay for playgrounds for the rich? Tax the shit out of the peasants of course.

Word on the street in Pierre is that it has a very good chance of making it out of committee. This does not surprise me. I guess the committee members have been lobbied pretty hard on the issue. Even if it makes it out of committee I don’t think it will pass the houses, and if it does for some miraculous reason, voters will certainly turn it down in November;

The sales tax bill that could produce a funding source for a new Sioux Falls events center is scheduled for its first hearing today.

House Bill 1198 is scheduled to be heard at 10 a.m. by the House committee on Local Government.

The bill would enable cities to impose a temporary one-cent sales tax for a specific capital project, pending local voter approval.

And it seems Mr. Tax and spend himself will be in Pierre to promote higher taxes, go figure.

A hearing in the House Local Government committee will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. and Mayor Dave Munson plans to testify about the bill. But it’s only the first step in the five-step process of passing the third penny sales tax bill through the legislature.

1 in 70 South Dakotans are millionaires and that number is going down. I’m crying.

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I was actually surprised we had so many. I wonder what the per capita rate is for the states? I heard that SD ranks around #1. And you wonder why we continue to not have an income tax, instead we find it fitting to tax the poor on food;

In 2006, South Dakota ranked 44th in the nation with 11,769 millionaire households. While that number rose to 12,563 in 2007, the state’s rank actually dropped to 47th. The state rose to 41 with 12,151 millionaire households in 2008, but dropped to 47 this year with 10,646.

Just think if we put a 6% income tax just on those 10,646 residents (based on only making $1 million a year) the state would raise $638,760,000 million. With that kind of dough, we could eliminate video lottery, retail taxes and reduce property taxes in one clean sweep. But hey, that would make sense and be fair, how dare we!

The City of Sioux Falls reveals their lies

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Today at the SF city council informational meeting there was a presentation of the arterial street plans for 2010-11. As South DaCola reported this week, the developers haven’t put in their fair share. Councilor Staggers questions the city department head about it, and that person reveals that platting fees have brought in $258,000 to date and the .08 cent tax increase has brought in “around $2.09 million”. Staggers then asks who will be paying for the project if the platting fees are not matching the taxpayer’s contribution. (paraphrasing) “I thought the developers were going to share 50% of the cost, that’s what we were told,” Staggers. The city official responds, (paraphrasing) “NO, we did not say that, that was simply a formula we used to get to the $10 million dollar number.”

A formula? More like a load of F’ing Crap!

WE WERE LIED TO in order to RAISE OUR TAXES, AND YES, WE WILL BE PAYING FOR A MAJORITY OF THESE ROADS.

The Rapid City Journal gets it, I wonder if the Gargoyle Leader will?

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South DaCola made the FIVES again;

Regressive taxation, in graphic detailA few years ago, the Journal Editorial Board took exception to the state’s efforts to force cities to raise taxes, particularly because the tax increase would include staple items such as food.

The state heard similar complaints from folks all over South Dakota, and in response, offered up a program by which individuals who met a certain income level could apply for relief.

Still, no matter how it’s explained, taxes on food are regressive, i.e., it most adversely affects the people who are least able to deal with it, the poor.

That’s blogger Scott Ehrisman’s argument against a current plan being floated by Sioux Falls officials to increase taxes to pay for an events center.

While Ehrisman’s conclusion that such a move is plain and simple discrimination may be hard from some people to swallow, he makes an extraordinary case against regressive taxation by offering up a graphic that shows by income bracket what percentage individuals must pay of their total earnings to such taxes.

Another case of a picture — or a line graph — is worth a thousand words.

Rapid City leaders figured out there is a recession, maybe they should pass the memo on to the Sioux Falls city council

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WOW! Imagine that, South Dakota’s second largest city has a little compassion for their citizens;

“We understand that times are tough and everyone needs to tighten the purse strings as much as possible, and I think the city government is no exception,” Rapid City Mayor Alan Hanks said.

Can you pass that message on to King Dave?

Sioux Falls will collect 3 percent more in property taxes next year after the City Council on Monday approved the maximum annual increase allowed by state law.

And guess who was the only councilor to vote against this increase was?

Councilor Kermit Staggers proposed an amendment to not take the 3 percent increase, but it failed to get support.

Once again, the Sioux Falls city council proves how out of touch they are with the general public by approving this increase.