Second property tax bill killed

A second attempt by a District 30 legislature to curtail ever-increasing property taxes in this year’s legislative session was killed last week when the Senate Taxation Committee killed SJR505.
Senate Joint Resolution 505A was a proposed constitutional amendment that would take the assessment of properties back to 2020 values for those who have owned the same property since the end of 2020.
“The extreme rise in property taxes is the number one complaint from our citizens who are the taxpayers,” Frye-Mueller said.
The proposal would have also limited property tax increases to a maximum of 1 percent per year. Pepole who buy property would then pay the higher assessed value after buying the property.
Frye-Mueller testified that many South Dakotans, particularly in the Black Hills, are being taxed out of their long-time homes because of rising valuations, largely brought on by people moving to the state from another state and paying well-above market value for the home. This in turn increases the value of the homes in the area, which in turn raises the property-tax bill.
There was a great deal of opposition to the bill, including the state’s Department of Revenue, South Dakota Retailers Association and the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce.
Those who opposed the bill argued the amendement would put a large hole in local governments’ budgets, which could lead to the state enacting a state income tax or raising the sales tax.
KEVN Fox News reported Wendy Semmler from the Department of Revenue said the state would lose $26.5 billion in taxable valuation if the bill passed.
The committee voted 6-0 to send the resolution to the 41st day, thus killing the bill.