An effort to revise taxes and fees to fund improvements to public roads and bridges in South Dakota is still alive in the state legislature. Members of the House State Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill One, after significantly amending the measure.
Members of the House State Affairs Committee took up eleven amendments to Senate Bill One, and passed eight of them. Included is an amendment increasing the excise tax on motor fuel two cents per year for three years. Representative Don Haggar spoke in favor of the change.
“I like the idea of the short term, because a lot of things can change in three years. I think it addresses the need in the next three years and we can reevaluate it at the end of that,” Haggar says.
But Senator Mike Vehle says the six cent increase over three years is not enough. He says lawmakers need to look forward.
“Look at the knothole that we’re being drug through on this,” Vehle says. “I mean this is tough. It’s not easy for me to raise a tax. I’ve been squirming. But I’m also saying we have this responsibility to do something. The last time we did something with the gas tax was 1999. It’s just a hard thing to do. And if you say, well, this is enough for three years and we can come back and do it again, and drag people through this knothole again, it’s tough.”
With the amendments, Senate Bill One also allows counties to impose a wheel tax of five dollars per wheel and up to 60 dollars per vehicle. It also raises license fees on noncommercial motor vehicles, and increases license plate fees. One added amendment raises the speed limit on the interstate to 80 miles per hour. The bill still has a few steps before becoming law. First it must pass the House. Then, because it’s been so heavily amended, it must go to conference committee where Senators and Representatives will work out final details.