Gov. Kristi Noem budget includes $7M tax grab

Businesses would lose sales tax incentive that governor puts on chopping block

South Dakota retailers could take a financial hit as part of Gov. Kristi Noem’s plan to counter slumping tax revenues while standing up some new spending programs.

While calling for more than $70 million in cuts to state spending during her annual budget address to lawmakers last month, the second-term Republican proposed doing away with a long-standing tax incentive program for retailers that remit sales tax to the state electronically.

“This collections process is now normal business practice, and this incentive is no longer necessary,” Noem told the Legislature, saying the sales tax collection allowance was established in 2013 to motivate businesses to file their monthly sales tax bills using a then still-fledgling online remittance system.

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