HB 1078 And Exempting Guns From The Sales Tax: A Minor Musing

It's difficult to take  HB 1078, a bill to exempt guns, bullets, and gunpowder from sales tax seriously.

First, some of its sponsors frequently seem more interested in triggering the libs than they are in passing productive legislation.

Second, it's entirely possible the bill is merely a vehicle for a scorecard issuing group with a name like People Perpetuating Pistoliers into Perpetuity to point out someone they deem a Republican in Name Only (RINO) lacks perfect fealty to the Second Amendment.

For this post, let's stipulate that Representatives Pischke, Hammock, Mulally, and Weis along with Senators (Phil)  Jensen and Monroe have every intention of passing this legislation.

Their argument likely proceeds as follows.

1. The right to self-defense is a human right.


2. That right is enshrined in the Second Amendment.


3. With rights come responsibilities and citizens have a duty to carry firearms to protect themselves.


4. When South Dakota taxes guns and ammunition, the state places an onerous burden on citizens' efforts to exercise that right and fulfill their duty.


5. No state should place onerous burdens on the exercising of rights; therefore, items necessary to exercise a right, in this case guns and ammunition, should be exempt from the sales tax.

One wonders if sponsors Pischke, Hammock, Mulally, Weis, (Phil)  Jensen, and Monroe have thought through the ramifications of the argument because points 4 and 5 tacitly admit that South Dakota's sales tax is regressive.

Further, if humans indeed have an inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," it follows that they have a right to items, like food,  that are necessary to exercise the right to life. If the solution to solve regression is exempting items from the sales tax, then there shouldn't be any argument against exempting groceries

I haven't heard the the bill's sponsors speak on the issue, but they may believe guns are more necessary than groceries. That's a tough argument to win. People need to eat more frequently than they need to use a gun for self-defense or any other reason. I'd wager that they and everyone who reads this post has eaten more often than they have used a gun in self-defense.

Perhaps their argument is that states as an entity should protect guns and not protect butter. That analogy has a fraught history.

In short, legislators Pischke, Hammock, Mulally, Weis, (Phil)  Jensen, and Monroe seem to have been too clever by half. In creating legislation that tacitly admits that South Dakota's tax structure is regressive, they are laying the groundwork necessary to eliminate the sales tax on food. I doubt that was their intention.

Republicans In United States Senate Prove South Dakota Republicans Fail Self-Reliance Test

Over at Dakota Free Press, Cory posted about Senate Bill 54, legislation written to prevent South Dakota communities from banning plastic bags and straws. I commented on his post that South Dakota Republicans, some of whom must be part of the every day carry (EDC) community, should show their dedication to preparedness supporting the carrying of metal straws and reusable grocery bags.

Today, Republicans in United States Senate have shown South Dakota Republicans the error of their ways. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr handed out fidget spinners to some of his colleagues for their edification, enrichment, and enjoyment during the Donald Trump Impeachment Trial.

Let's leave aside for the nonce the worry that these spinners may violate the rules the Senate established for the trial. Let's ignore the fact that that these spinners may be a not so subtle message that the Senators using them are not taking seriously their oath to be impartial jurors. Instead, in a spirit of bipartisanship, let's celebrate the fact that Republicans in the United States Senate are demonstrated their dedication to preparedness, albeit belatedly, by making fidget spinners part of their EDC.

Maybe South Dakota Republicans can follow that example and drop their opposition to individuals making metal straws and reusable grocery bags part of their everyday carry.

South Dakota At Risk For Severe Job Losses

On Wednesday, Governor Noem tweeted,

Did You Know… South Dakota has been consistently ranked as a top state to do business, largely due to our favorable tax environment and limited regulatory system. #SmallBusinessWeek

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) May 8, 2019

The cynical among us might wonder why scores of businesses offering high paying jobs are not racing to the state, but it's #SmallBusinessWeek, so criticizing Governor Noem for celebrating a meaningless statistic seems to be bad form.

Today, Axios points out that automation will likely wreck havoc on jobs in the Midwest.

• A quarter of all jobs across the U.S. have high chance of being wiped out by automation.

• The five states with the highest share of at-risk jobs are Indiana (29%), Kentucky (29%), South Dakota (28%), Arkansas (28%), and Iowa (28%) — all of which went for President Trump in 2016.

• Compare that to the bottom five: New York (20%), Maryland (20%), Massachusetts (21%), Connecticut (22%) and New Mexico (22%), all of which went for Hillary Clinton.

But the extent of the hit to middle America is even clearer when zooming in to the county level.

• For example, in Jerauld County, South Dakota, 53% of jobs are hanging in the balance.

• 48% of jobs are vulnerable in Scott County, Miss.; 48% in Dakota County, Neb.; and 46% in Colfax County, Neb.[emphasis mine]

Axios concludes, "To absorb the coming disruption, the government and corporations will have to take charge of reskilling and upskilling huge swaths of displaced workers."

There's little hope that corporations concerned about only the bottom line will bring jobs to a state that needs a quarter of its workforce retrained unless the state is willing to help shoulder the cost of retraining.  Over the past few sessions, the South Dakota legislature spent more time arguing about useless resolutions, placing the national motto in schools, civics classes, guns, and chislec than it has about funding K-12 education. There's less hope that legislators or Governor Noem will suddenly decide to fund the retraining of workers.

A Minor Musing About The Possible Special Legislative Session To Collect Online Sales Tax

Bob Mercer and Cory Heidelberger both have posts  up this morning about the potential special legislative session, Mercer provided a link to the briefing legislators received.

There are a few interesting tidbits. First is the reminder that South Dakota still can't collect sales tax from online purchases despite the Wayfair decision.

Although the United States Supreme Court’s ruling was favorable to the state, the case was remanded back to the South Dakota court system for further legal proceedings. The case and the status of our law are not yet settled. Further, the trial court’s March 2017 order granting summary judgment in favor of Wayfair put in place an injunction that remains in effect today. The injunction prohibits the state from enforcing SB 106. Once the injunction is lifted, the state can begin to enforce SB 106, which will trigger SDCL 10-64-9.

My Amazon shopping cart tells me that I pay sales tax on every purchase. According to my PayPal receipts, two recent purchases from boutique retailers do not show sales tax collection. I'm not sure either retailer will meet the current legal criteria that will demand that they begin collecting South Dakota sales taxes.

Second, it seems odd that key provisions of of amendment to lower the sales tax one tenth of a percent for every $20 million raised from online sales tax collections did not include details for for how the net revenue would be calculated.

There are two ideas as to how “additional net revenue” could be calculated:

(1) additional net revenue is only that revenue that is collected from new licensees that obtain a sales tax license and begin collecting and remitting sales tax after the state can enforce the law, or

(2) additional net revenue is calculated based on the amount of additional money the state collects after the state can enforce its law regardless of whether the licensee had been licensed before or after the state could enforce the law.

Even more confusing is the fact that the law isn't clear about what to do if an extra $22 million or an extra $38 million is raised.

The law provides that sales tax “shall be reduced by one-tenth percent on July first following the calendar year for which each additional twenty million dollar increment of net revenue is collected and remitted by” remote sellers. It is not clear whether the $20M in additional net revenue calculation should be done by calendar year or on a rolling basis.  

This is best explained through an example. If, in a given year, the state collects $30M in additional net revenue, $20M of that total would trigger a reduction in the tax rate of 0.1%. How the remaining $10M should be treated is unclear.  

Under one interpretation, that $10M, being less than $20M, would not trigger a further tax rate reduction, but it would go into the base for sales tax collections upon which additional net revenue would be calculated for the following year.  

Under the other interpretation, that $10M “rolls over” into the following year, meaning that only another $10M in additional net revenue would trigger an additional 0.1% tax rate reduction.

These problems along with the question of whether any reduction in the sales tax rate is self-enforcing should have been foreseen and addressed when the legislation was being crafted so that no one would have to consider a special session.

Are South Dakota's Republican Leaders Running A Caucus, A Kids Club, Or A Cult?

Dakota Free Press, Dakota War College, and Right Side South Dakota all cover a letter Republican cause leaders sent to Republican legislative candidates. (Given how Blogger seems to load slowly, I am not going to paste images of the letter which one can find at all three sites.)

I really don't know if the letter is recruiting people to a meeting to indoctrinate them into a cult or is an adult version of "Do you like me? Please check yes or no."

The letter begins, "As we just celebrated the birthday of our great country, we take time to pause and reflect how important it is for our great state of South Dakota to have a strong and united  Republican caucus. We have all agreed and wish to share the following points . . . "

Translation: We're the cool kids and we want you to be cool kids to. Nothing cool has happened without us. If you want to be a cool kid, we have decided you have to do everything we say.

Later, the letter says , "All members will be expected to maintain the highest degree of confidentiality within the caucus."

Translation: Don't tell anyone our secret passwords or show anyone our secret handshake. Whatever you do, don't mention that thing with the pocketknife and candle! (I'll leave the rant about transparency for another post.)

The letter continues, "History dictates that members of the Senate and House Republican Majority Caucuses, respectively, have been considered and assigned for positions of chair and vice chair of committees.  Members of minority caucuses are not considered for these positions."

Translation: Did we tell you we're the cool kids? Yeah, just remember, we're really freakin' cool!

Later, the caucus leaders pour on the charm: "We consider the Senate and House Republican Majority Caucuses to be a family of Republicans working together to ensure that conservative Republican principles are protected and preserved in South Dakota."

Translation: We love you. You need our love to be whole. We'll be just like mommy and daddy but without the vegetables. If you accept our love everything will be great all over. Remember, mommy and daddy make you eat yucky stuff, but we love you.

The charm ends with the next sentence, however. "Therefore it requires you to be a sole member of the Senate or House Republican Majority Cause, respectively.

Translation: We have the only good ideas and a monopoly on all that is right. We're like that Joshua guy in the Bible, and you have to choose us or nothing. Remember we're on the side of freedom and good stuff. Also, you won't be one of the cool kids if talk to anyone isn't one of us.

I would prefer my legislators to be adults who are able to think independently not members of a kids club or a cult. Republican leaders, however, seem to value conformity, secrecy, and a forced show of unity.

Lessons From 2015 Legislature: South Dakota Republicans Are Afraid

One would believe that a party that recently defeated a sitting Senate Majority Leader, swept the 2014 races for constitutional offices, and possessed a supermajority in the 2015 legislature would be emboldened to do something other than cravenly conserve power.

Relatively early in the session, there was the "Let's Let John Do What We Wouldn't Let Tom Do" bill. It's unclear why a party that boasts of its deep bench, mocks the opposition for being unable to field candidates, and believes that no one will challenge its senior senator in 2016 would feel the need to enhance their ability to hold that seat unless they don't believe their own boasts and jeers.

Later in the session the Republican majority passed Senate Bill 69 which makes it harder for independent candidates to get on the ballot. Off the top of my head, I can't think of the last time independents of either conservative or liberal leaning successfully challenged an entrenched South Dakota Republican.

I am old enough to remember Republican leaders at a national level proclaiming their trust in the American voters. Apparently South Dakota Republicans don't have the same trust in the South Dakota electorate. They certainly don't seem to want to allow them any choices but those with an "R" behind their name on the ballot. I suppose if a party has no ideas and harbors a distrust of voters, it ought to be fearful.

I'm Pretty Sure I Told You So

This blog's January 2, 2015 post contained the following:

There will be talk but little action on anything relating to education funding.

Technically my predication might be wrong. The "blue ribbon" commission will likely talk about talking about education rather than actually doing anything about it. As a side note, I'll predict that the final report of the "blue ribbon" (I'm working really hard not to call it a Pabst) commission's findings will mirror Governor Daugaard's voter rejected HB 1234.

That same post contained the following prediction about the budget process:

At some point near the end of the session Republican leaders will bemoan a tight budget and without any sense of chagrin or irony congratulate themseleves on increasing all "rainy day trust funds" to record levels. 

Today's Yankton Press and Dakotan reports the following comment from Republican Representative Jean Hunhoff:

According to Jean Hunhoff, the projection is not going to be as great as everyone has thought.

“You remember when the governor put forth his budget in December?” Rep Hunhoff asked. “We were looking at fiscal year ‘15, which is this current year that we had about $26 million extra. We are seeing ... with some early returns that we will have a soft economy. And right now, we are down to having about $ 12 million (or surplus) instead of that $26 million. So, there are going to have to be some reductions there. As we look in the future for Fiscal Year ‘16, with the outlook right now, things aren’t looking so rosy.”

Of course one doesn't need to be Nostradamus, Cassandra, Tiresias, or Edgar Cayce to predict something that will happen during nearly every legislative session.

Don Knopp, Preppers, And Madonna: Another Belated Minor Musing

I often skim posts at Lifehacker.com; some of their tech stuff like rooting phones goes a bit beyond what I feel comfortable doing, but their posts help me understand what the young'uns are talking about. One of my favorite features is their weekly "what's in your go bag" show and tell. Lifehacker uses the term "go bag" in its broadest sense to indicate items necessary to get you through the day not necessarily items that you would need to survive an evacuation. They have also had an Every Day Carry (EDC) thread filled with shiny objects for the nerd in all of us.

A couple of weeks ago Lifehacker featured Scott Kelley's traditional go bag/bug out bag. I followed Kelley's  EDC link and a few links on his site and found discussions about carrying pocket knives tip up or tip down, AA flashlights with 300 lumen bulbs, and nuanced debate about urban prepping vs wilderness prepping. (Please don't tell Mrs. Plainsman that I've maxed out a credit card buying folding knives, flashlights, and tactical pens.)

Most of the preppers use military style acronyms BOB for bug out bag, INCH for I'm not coming home, and SHTF for fecal matter coming in contact with blades that spin to circulate the air. Those acronyms were running through my head when I read State Representative Don Knopp's treatise on blood moons and his belief that this phenomenon signals Christ's imminent return.

I'm not unsympathetic to preppers; I carry a "mom pouch" with assorted necessities to help me and young'uns deal with unexpected occurrences during debate trips. More importantly,  I'm fairly certain the economy is going to go south in major way in the next few years. I am concerned that young people in the United States carry $1 trillion in student debt. Combining financially stressed young folks with a depressed economy seems a recipe for major trouble, but I don't believe that I need to cache supplies in an undisclosed location to survive. In fact if I packed a bug out bag with all of the prepper recommended equipment, I'd probably die of a heart attack before I hiked three miles into the wilderness.

Likewise, I am not totally unsympathetic to Knopp's eschatology. As young'uns, my peers and I spent countless hours arguing--there wasn't enough warranting of our claims to consider the activity debating--whether there would be a pre-Tribulation, mid-Tribulation, and post-Tribulation rapture. We were astute enough to know the word rapture is not found in the Bible. We didn't know and didn't have the internet to do a quick search to discover the doctrine that is less than 200 years old.

I do have significant concerns when Knopp's theology is based in part on Kaduri, a Jewish mystic who practiced Kabbalah, the faith cultural icon Madonna may or may not still practice. I also have problems with Knopp's confusing correlation with causation when he lists the SHTF events allegedly associated with blood moons. If Knopp's goal was to make me think about the need to deepen my faith, he failed. All he made me want to do is search Amazon to price highly recommended EDC knives and watch Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video.

Madonna - Like a Prayer (Music Video) from Mary Lambert, Director on Vimeo.

Democrats Have A Full House Slate In District 18

Terry Winter (D) petitions for District 18 House are approved.
— Jason Gant (@SOSGant) March 21, 2014

Jay Williams (D) petitions for District 18 House are approved.
— Jason Gant (@SOSGant) March 21, 2014

South Dakota Education Legislation: February 6. 2014 Edition

If all education bills being heard in committee today pass, SB 101 and SB 112 will allow teachers to discuss how an intelligent creator formed a fetus within the womb, but SB 131 will give students a free pass to skip class.

Given that outcome, I believe that an intelligent designer created the universe; I doubt the same can be said for these pieces of legislation.

Catching Up A Bit

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
--Robert Burns "To a Mouse"

I had hoped my ability to juggle debate season and blogging would improve during December. I was wrong. In fact, December gave me less time to read blogs than November did. Further, I had hoped to pick up blogging last week, but a nasty cold/flu bug knocked on my backside for most of the week. I do hope to have a regular blogging schedule for the legislative session.

I won't bemoan the fact that I missed the opportunity to discuss the Duck Dynasty stupidity or the new entrants in the South Dakota Senate race. Instead, I'll try to look forward a bit.

The legislative session will begin soon, and one can expect a heady mix of pablam and inane proposals. A prime example of the former, comes from HCR 1001 which concludes:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-Ninth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature supports and appreciates all the collaboration that is already taking place among the state's school districts, and encourages further cooperative efforts to provide all the state's students with the best educational opportunities possible.

More importatnly, the resolution contends that cooperation is necessary because many schools lack resources:

WHEREAS, school districts across the state, and especially those in remote, rural areas, sometimes lack the staff and resources needed to provide students with the course offerings, co-curricular activities, or other educational services or opportunities that are necessary or would serve to enhance the students' learning and educational experiences; and

WHEREAS, by working together, school districts can overcome many of the challenges they face by sharing programs, equipment and other resources, and staff, including administrators, teachers, and counselors

I suppose one should be thankful the resolution doesn't contain a self-congratulatory note that the legislators commend themselves for resolving to return education funding to levels it had five years ago.  One wonders, however, if if the authors are saving their support for the opinion that pictures of puppies, kittens and angels should be considered cute for a separate piece of legislation.

A Minor Musing About The South Dakota Legislature And Frat Movies

Via Madville, I learn the shocking totally predictable news that Governor Daugaard will offer a 1.6% increase for K-12 public education. Daugaard is content to "do the minimum." Meanwhile Pat Powers predicts "this next legislative session is going to spend an inordinate amount of time on common core."

Doing the "minimum" and spending an "inordinate amount of time" on situations that likely will not change reminds me of being a college student. For the legislature, the comparison is perhaps more apt; the legislature often seems like little else but fraternity for folks who should have left frat life behind when they turned 22.

The two best movies about frat life are Animal House and the under-appreciated PCU. Both movies contain quotations that predict what will happen during the upcoming session. First, from PCU,

These, Tom, are the Causeheads. They find a world-threatening issue and stick with it for about a week.

The only question is what eccentric "world-threatening issue" will dominate discussion each week. The issues about funding and other important issues will be dealt behind the scenes.

Of course how the issue is dealt with is often as important as the issue itself. From Animal House,

I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.

The only question is what "really futile and stupid gesture" will be proposed to solve the "world-threatening issue" du semaine.