GOP governor candidates debated property taxes, practically nothing else
The four candidates for governor – private citizen Toby Doeden, Congressman Dusty Johnson, Gov. Larry Rhoden, and state Rep. Jon Hansen – met in a televised debate Monday night. They spent most of the hour talking about taxes, generally focusing on property taxes and how to lower them.
Though certainly relevant, the amount of time spent on property taxes at the expense of other issues was frustrating … and seemed odd to me for a couple of reasons.
1) The property tax burden as a percentage of property value in South Dakota, at about 1%, is not particularly high on a national scale, nor on a regional scale. Regionally, we’re in line with all our contiguous neighbors except Montana and Wyoming, which indeed have significantly lower burdens at 0.6% and 0.5% respectively. Of note, Montana does have an income tax and Wyoming and its counties rely heavily on mineral extraction taxes. Neither situation applies to South Dakota. Considering that our state’s property taxpayers are in line with national averages when it comes to their property tax burdens, the candidates squandered a lot of time on an issue that doesn’t seem as urgent as they might think.
And that brings me to point 2). In an Emerson College poll last month, 35% of voters said the economy (jobs, inflation, taxes) was the most important issue facing South Dakota. That was more than any other issue got, but it still means only about a third of those polled thought the economy was the top issue. Two-thirds of the sample thought otherwise. Healthcare, education, housing affordability and threats to democracy each got high single - or low double-digit numbers. I don’t recall much, if any, dialogue on those topics.
After listening to an hour of repetitive, mind-numbing, nit-picking squabbling about property taxes, disappointment turned into disgust that other issues were ignored. Of course taxes are important, but these candidates did a collective disservice to the electorate by giving little time and rhetoric to other issues that matter to the people of this state.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: John Tsitrian
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
Follow us and comment on X and Bluesky
