If you follow state politics at all--the last thing you might expect out of Pierre this legislative session is support for a tax.
The legislature is full of lawmakers who ran for office as strict conservatives, in vehement opposition to taxes. But, this year there is broad support behind the effort to make a formerly temporary tax permanent.
SDPB's Charles Michael Ray has this story on the tourism tax and the wave of bipartisan support it's generating in Pierre.
Ted Husted is arguably the king of billboard advertising. His family started Wall Drug - today billboards promoting the vacation stop have been found everywhere from the sands of Saudi Arabia to an interstate exit outside Pukwana. So what does a guy like Husted have to say about the efforts of the State Tourism Department in promoting South Dakota as a destination?
"The Tourism Department is Wall Drug on steroids, when it comes to promoting and marketing our great state. If the Department of Tourism is allowed to continue to promote our state then Wall Drug, Wall and the rest of our state will continue to be successful," says Husted.
And the tourism industry is showing some solid success in recent years. State officials are pretty upbeat.
"Good afternoon and thanks everyone for joining us," says Governor Dennis Daugaard.
Governor Dennis Daugaard held a press conference in Pierre to announce the amount of growth in the tourism industry last year.
"The good news is that in 2012 the total economic impact of South Dakota's visitor industry was 1.95 billion which was an increase of 5.04 percent over last year," says Daugaard.
The Governor credits this success to the Department of Tourism's marketing strategy. It basically advertises the state as a great vacation destination targeting audiences in surrounding states, big cities, and across the world. The funding to pay for all those ads is provided through an extra half cent summertime sales tax that is levied on items most often used by visitors, such as hotels and motels. The tax was first issued in 2009 as an addition to the established one cent surcharge already in law. The extra half-penny tax passed the legislature with a sunset clause and four years later, its about to expire. Industry leaders like Russ Jobman want the extra half cent tax to become permanent. He's The General Manager for Xanterra Parks and Resorts at Mount Rushmore. He says this is a tax paid primarily by non-state residents.
"77% of this half cent comes from out of state, it is not South Dakota Citizens that are paying this tax. Now show me a tax in South Dakota that is paid by out of state people," says Jobman.
According to the Governor's office the visitor industry directly employs 27-thousand people in South Dakota. For those like Jobman this issue is about more than just tax dollars.
"It's really not a tax bill. This is a jobs bill. You cut out the advertising the people quit coming-the businesses start laying off people because they don't have the guests bringing folks in," says Jobman.
The bill is seeing strong support in the legislature. In truth there aren't many lawmakers who want to go on record in opposition to the state's second largest industry. The tourism lobby holds some political sway in the state capitol. Even some of the most ardent conservatives in Pierre - who express vehement opposition to even the utterance of the word tax --Don't see this visitor tax as an unfair burden -- rather - they see it as an industry supported idea that helps supplement and market South Dakota as a vacation hot spot. But there are those who grapple with the idea of supporting a tax that is set to sunset. Republican Don Kopp from Pennington County is among them.
"I'm just against raising taxes unless you absolutely have to and when this tax is sold to the public as a sunset tax then I believe it should be ended on the date it was sold to end on" says Kopp.
For his part Governor Daugaard is quick to respond to any critics who might wonder why public tax dollars are being used to support the private profits of this industry.
"It's not unusual that groups will come to the state and ask the state to help collect from among their membership to benefit their membership. Just as the soybean producers take a check-off of their soybean sales and corn producers do, here's the tourism producers asking for a checkoff of their sales. So it's not unusual and it's not unique to tourism to help their industry and to help their industry grow and thrive," says Daugaard.
While the bulk of the revenue generated here goes to promote the tourism industry -- it also helps support the South Dakota Arts Council, the state Archeology Program, and the state's Cultural Heritage Museum. Those like Pat Boyd the Executive Director of South Dakotan's for the Arts say each of these organizations works hand in hand with the tourism industry.
"Getting the specter of a sunset for this funding for the South Dakota Arts Council out of the way really helps us with all kinds of planning. And, We arts groups certainly benefit from the marketing of the Tourism Department. I mean all of marketing South Dakota brings a real partnership we have. We're part of the attraction to this state and we understand that role. And, I think our role in tourism has become abundantly clear and so yea it makes a big difference in the kinds of creative things that we can do together," says Boyd.
The tourism tax bill is seeing broad support in the State House of representatives. If it passes the State Senate - and is then signed into law by Governor Daugaard it could become permanent by the time the next tourist season is in full swing.
For South Dakota Public Broadcasting, I'm Charles Michael Ray in Pierre