Decades-old bowling tax on chopping block

Sioux Falls councilor, City Hall in agreement that tax isn’t worth enforcing

Calls for tax relief are being answered in Sioux Falls. But not exactly in the way property owners had likely hoped.

The Sioux Falls City Council has advanced a proposal to repeal a decades-old tax levied against bowling alleys in South Dakota’s largest city. Carried by Councilor David Barranco, the measure first heard Tuesday night at Carnegie Town Hall would end a $100 annual tax placed on “bowling centers.”

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Barranco acknowledges the modest level of the tax, but in calling for its repeal, suggested it’s existence puts more than just a $100 yearly burden on the city’s five bowling alleys. That’s because, like most government red tape, it requires business owners to pay accountants and attorneys to figure out how adhere to it.

“In fact, this reform saves local businesses more than $100 each, because in addition to the base fee, operators pay a lawyer or CPA to handle it,” he said.

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The city finance office, typically opposed to proposals that result in less revenue coming into city coffers, supports the repeal. The rationale is the nominal fee and only five entities subject to it results in fewer revenues than what it takes to pay city staff to administer and collect the tax, Sioux Falls Finance Director Shawn Pritchett told The Dakota Scout ahead of Tuesday night’s meeting.

Barranco reiterated that point to his colleagues as well.

“The amount of tax collected hardly offsets the time and effort required to process it,” he said. “If we eliminate this tax, we can reassign city staff to more pressing tasks. Hence, the Finance Department supports my plan, calling it a ‘win-win.’”

A final vote on the bowling tax repeal is scheduled for March 6.