The South Dakota Senate approved HB 1182 last week, which raises the state sales tax to four and a half percent, with the money going towards teacher salaries and property tax relief. South Dakota Farm Bureau Lobbyist Mike Held says providing property tax relief is important to the state’s farmers and ranchers.
He says the most important part of the property tax relief is addressing the problem of uncapped capital outlay taxes used by schools.
Held says the capital outlay problem is a difficult one to solve and passage of HB 1182 helps get a handle on that.
Held says HB 1182 will be particularly helpful to smaller rural schools which are having a difficult time finding teachers due to the pay issue.