Noem foreshadows ‘back to normal’ budget

Gov. Kristi Noem says state revenues are falling “back to normal.”

Noem focused her weekly column Friday on fiscal matters. She’s preparing to deliver her annual budget address to the Legislature on Dec. 5.

“It is important to realize that this year’s budget will look more ‘normal’ than it has the last several years,” Noem wrote.

Noem signs temporary tax reduction into law, vows to fight for permanent tax cut

There was so much extra money available last winter that legislators passed a temporary sales tax holiday, reducing the state rate from 4.5% to 4.2%.

“I’m hopeful the Legislature will make this tax cut permanent,” Noem wrote. “Instead, there is already talk among legislators about repealing the sales tax holiday to free up money for more spending.”

Much of the extra money in the state budget the past several years flowed from federal pandemic relief and stimulus funding for states, which has now faded. The period since the injection of that money in the economy has been marred by high inflation. 

Or, as Noem put it in her column, “we have not been immune from the burdensome regulations and inflation inflicted by the federal government, and America’s national economy continues to tank because of the extremist policies of the Biden Administration.”

Noem indicated she won’t entertain any tax-increase proposals during the legislative session that begins in January.

“We cannot raise taxes on South Dakota families,” she wrote.