Negotiations deadlocked over Senate’s sales ‘tax holiday’ proposals

Legislators need more time to work toward deal

PIERRE — Lawmakers at the state Capitol need more time for tax cut negotiations that right now have the House and Senate at odds over how long a sales tax rollback should last.

A conference committee that convened Wednesday morning to iron out differences between the two chambers over competing sales tax cut proposals quickly recessed without a deal.

According to House members on the committee — Majority Leader Will Mortenson, Assistant Majority Leader Taylor Rehfeldt and Rep. Chris Karr — the chamber remains committed to a permanent reduction in the general sales tax rate by .3 percentage points.

The Senate, however, has indicated it is willing to budge from its most recent proposal — reducing the sales tax rate from 4.5 percent to 4.3 percent with a condition that the rollback goes away in two years.

Instead, the Senate caucus has made two new offers in the negotiations — setting the sales tax rate at 4.2 percent with a three-year sunset, or 4.3 percent with a four-year sunset.

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