A petition drive has successfully place repeal of South Dakota’s sales tax on groceries on the November ballot.
Supporters of ending the 4.2% tax needed about 17, 500 signatures from registered South Dakota voters to get the measure on the ballot. They submitted over 25,000 two weeks ago and more than 20,000 were verified as accurate.
Despite receiving public support from Governor Kristi Noem and each of the 11 Democrats in the state legislature last year, a proposal to repeal the grocery tax was killed in favor of a 3-year reduction in the overall state sales tax rate.
There were no significant changes to the grocery tax in this year’s Legislative session. Repealing the grocery tax would reduce state revenue about $104-million dollars, almost identical to the savings from dropping the state sales tax rate.