State officials are anticipating a decrease in sales tax collections for fiscal year 2020.
Sales tax collections are the primary source of funding for state government.
During a summer Joint Appropriations Committee meeting Monday, both the governor’s office and legislature’s budget analysts anticipate downturn in collections.
Jim Terwilliger is the secretary of the Department of Revenue. He says the economic outlook is more cautious than during session.
“Nationally, I think you’re seeing the federal reserve looking at cutting interest rates,” Terwilliger says. “Even the federal reserve is cautious about the economy. But, here in South Dakota—Senator White brought up the Ag sector—so, there’s a lot of uncertainty and challenges in the ag sector.”
While the two different budget analysist agreed on declining revenue, they differed on overall revenue. The Department of Revenue estimates revenues will decline by 8.2 million dollars.
The Legislative Research Council predicts revenues will increase by about 1.6 million dollars in areas other than sales tax revenues.
