For at least another year, there will be just three property tax classes in South Dakota.

 

House members made that decision when they defeated House Bill 1086, which would have created a leased residential property classification, on a vote of 28-39.

 

The bill did not set a levy for leased property, which is currently taxed as commercial property, but created a process for collection of leased property tax collection throughout South Dakota.

 

S.D. DOR Director of Property and Special Taxes Mike Houdyshell noted in his committee hearing testimony that his office collected the information for Brown, Lincoln, Minnehaha and Pennington counties at the request of the South Dakota Multi-Housing Association and found in thsse four counties there was a decrease of approximately $15.6 million in local effort.

 

On the House floor on Wednesday (2/3), Rep. Don Haggar, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill would help accurately measure the effect of the potential property tax class, which needed to be developed to meet the state’s workforce.

 

“For the typical worker…we have a shortage of that type of (affordable rental) property,” Rep. Haggar said.

 

A similar bill, Senate Bill 100 from the 2015 legislative session, passed both legislative chambers, but was vetoed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard and not able to be revived by legislators.

 

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