SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - An effort to repeal the 4% state sales tax on food failed today in the House Taxation Committee.
Jim Terwilliger with the State Bureau of Finance and Management says South Dakota’s sales and use taxes are broad by design. Terwilliger says the idea is to have a lot of residents pay a little so taxes are kept low.
The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Representative Ray Ring of Vermillion, says the tax is regressive. Ring says the poor's purchasing power is already low and taxes take a bigger piece of their budget.
Ring's bill would have been revenue neutral, he says, by fractionally increasing taxes on other goods and services.
The bill was sent to the 41st day effectively killing it.