The Money Cyclone
Saving money one place and collecting money someplace else isn't a tax cut.
What on earth is going on in Pierre, in our county commissions, and on our city councils?
Our citizens are over taxed (sales and property taxes, fees, wealth transfers, and inflation) and under compensated. The tax burden is so much most people are in debt and the stress is showing up everywhere - at work, in schools, and in families.
Sadly, the politicians don’t appear to be listening. While there was a lot of hoopla about “tax relief” this legislative session, the House and Senate quietly passed bill after bill that increased fees on everything from college credits for high school students to electronic form filings and driver’s licenses, and the list goes on an on. So the money that was to be collected in taxes is now collected in fees.
To make matters worse, the Lieutenant Governor, was in the House of Representatives handing out accolades for economic development, the bizarre wealth transfer program that takes citizens’ tax dollars and hands them out to companies. It is still confusing to me how we bought into this charade and why the state and communities continue to support this wealth transfer.
To their credit, economic development organizations produce all kinds of fancy graphs to sell people on why what they do is a good idea. Regardless of how pretty the graphs are, the bottom line is they are taking money from the taxpayers and giving it to someone else (grants, tax abatements, and tax increment financing). Sometimes the recipient is a high-profile out of state company that is promising jobs (and at the same time bringing in foreign workers that depress wages for everyone in the state) or an in-state developer that is offering to clean-up a “blighted” area.
Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see how foreign workers (and extra taxes for subsidized food, public schools, medical care, etc.) and lower wages are good for the people of South Dakota. In addition, I haven’t figured out how tax increment financing (TIF) is good for anyone but the developer or company that pockets the tens of millions of dollars.
Perhaps it is time to be honest and stop the swirling.
The only way we can get tax relief is to CUT SPENDING - less taxes, less fees and NO corporate welfare.
"Sadly, the politicians don’t appear to be listening." - Have you ever noticed that when politicians fear their constituents, they listen? Unless the oaths taken in SD by politicians are drastically different, they are sworn to SERVE their constituents, and until the people of SD get riled more so than you great post here, then the politicians will let the power they THINK they have go to their head. Time to remind them of the delusion they are living in... Until then, same old, same old.
I've worked as a consultant to corporations in 26 states, and the SD legislature has their strategy butt BACKWARD. Yeah, sorry about the foul temper. I don't even live in SD yet, but something like this irks the you-know-what-liquid out of me.
"It is still confusing to me ... why the state and communities continue to support this wealth transfer." Taxes belong to the people, NOT the politicians, to give to corporations - and I doubt a single SD citizen would do so. Yes, the corporations are given incentives by the States, but ONLY incentives that reduce the corporation's tax burden; they are not given tax dollars anywhere I have been (though Newsom has been trying to do this in CA - I thought midwesterners didn't like this sort of sh-tuff???).
Corporations should pay SD for the privilege of operating in the State in the form of new jobs, services, and products without accepting any money from the State—and they do so in every state I worked in. What the heck is wrong with the craniums of those in the legislature? Oh, wait. They don't fear their constituents.
Noticing a pattern here??
When your taxes jump about 40% in one year you know there is something in Pierre. But once again the media fails to tell the whole story, so people are not aware of what is going on. I hope the new governor gets his head out of the dark hole and sees what the people of this state need to be informed of. Too many legislators fail to communicate with their people in their districts, and that is not good. Citi bank used up their bennys and moved on to greener pastures. And we did’t learn from that either. People are too easily brainwashed by fast talkers and politicians not enforcing the will of the majority of the public.