South Dakota to cut sales tax by $104M annually for 4 years

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s Republican-dominated Legislature passed a general sales tax cut of $104 million per year, lowering the taxes on groceries but not eliminating them entirely as Gov. Kristi Noem had urged. The cut that cleared both chambers Thursday reduces the state’s overall sales tax from 4.5% to 4.2%. It has a four-year sunset clause and removes a mechanism known as the Partridge amendment, which gradually reduced the state’s sales tax as more money was collected from Internet sales. Tax cuts were high on the agenda as the state opened the session with a $423 million surplus.