February 4, 2008

Contact Duane Sand at 605-332-2848

“The State House passed a tax increase on South Dakotans last week disguised as property tax reform when it voted to change the 150% property tax rule,” Duane Sand, South Dakota State Director of Americans for Prosperity. 

Americans for Prosperity, South Dakota’s largest grassroots taxpayer watchdog group, is asking the South Dakota State Senate to strike down a tax increase that was passed by the House last week.

Last week, the State House of Representatives passed HB 1005, a property tax valuation bill intended to fix the 150% rule on property valuations.  The bill would switch the valuation of agricultural land from a system based on what the land would sell for to a system based on what the land could produce.  By changing the valuation process the State House has created a tax increase on residential and commercial property owners across the state.

“This bill just goes too far, it’s a tax increase on home and business property owners” said Americans for Prosperity State Director Duane Sand.  Sand went on to say that by changing the agriculture land valuation process from sales based to production based, the State House has “passed an unfair tax increase on to residential and commercial property owners.The state and country are facing an economic downturn and this is the last point in time when the state house should be raising taxes on property owners,” Sand said.

House bill 1005 uses a complicated process that is akin to an income tax for determining the value of agriculture land.  While the current process is based on sales of nearby property, the new system would base values on the production capability of property.  This means that as production goes up, so does the amount of tax paid to the state.

Americans for Prosperity supported House Bill 1252, sponsored by Representative Al Novstrup.  House Bill 1252 would have delicately balanced the different interests regarding property valuation by protecting agricultural property farther from towns, without giving the same tax protection to valuable ag land closer to cities and other developments. The bill also would have replaced the 150-perent rule with a similar 250-percent rule.

Sand went on to say that, “House Bill 1005 is near sighted and lacks the vision necessary to properly reform a property tax system that requires a much more sophisticated solution.”  “House Bill 1252 was precisely the solution necessary to balance all interests without raising taxes on residential and commercial property owners,” stated Sand.

Americans for Prosperity is South Dakota’s largest grassroots taxpayer watchdog group.  To schedule an interview with State Director Duane Sand call the South Dakota office at 605-332-2848.