Dana Hess writes for South Dakota Searchlight, an online news organization.

During the recently completed legislative session, there were a couple of discussions in a House State Affairs Committee meeting that may have a direct bearing on South Dakota’s future.

One topic was what to call a tax that has never before been implemented. At issue was House Bill 1138 which would have created a tax on advertising with the revenue to be used for property tax relief. Currently advertising is exempt from taxation.

Sen. Taffy Howard, a Rapid City Republican and a sponsor of the legislation, looked into the future and saw that opponents of the bill would call it a new tax. Howard testified that she preferred to call it a “tax shift” that was undoing an earlier tax shift that put the advertising tax on the exempt list.

Howard’s prediction was correct as Steve Willard, president of the South Dakota Broadcasters Association, said it was a new tax since no one has ever had to pay it. “It’s brand new to them,” Willard said of the advertisers who would have to pay the tax. “They went from not having one to having one, which to me seems new.”

The other discussion came just prior to the vote on the bill, while committee members listed their reasons for voting against it. Never mind that no other state in the union has a tax on advertising or that implementing the tax would certainly mean adding more personnel to the Department of Revenue. Lawmakers didn’t seem put off by the constitutional argument that a tax on advertising is a tax on free speech.

What put them off was that they had not yet given enough consideration to making budget cuts. Rep. Bethany Soye, a Sioux Falls Republican, said legislators had two choices when it came to property tax relief: cut spending or increase taxes. If lawmakers insisted that taxes shouldn’t go up, Soye said, then there needed to be cuts made.

Her thoughts were echoed by Rep. Jon Hansen, a Dell Rapid Republican who serves as speaker of the House. Hansen said the driver behind high property taxes was excessive growth in government and excessive spending. “We owe it to the people to look first to the cuts,” Hansen said.

This conversation reflected comments made later in the session by House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, who said that property taxes were too high due to excessive spending by counties and schools.

In a South Dakota Searchlight story the Spearfish Republican said, “You’re not going to get property tax relief until you look at the spending done by our public school system and our counties, because that’s where local property taxes go.”

The story noted that this was a change in tone for lawmakers who, two years ago, conducted a summer study about ways to help cash-strapped counties. After the summer study, the Legislature spent $10 million to help local governments with cybersecurity and the cost to counties for public defenders or court-appointed attorneys.

These conversations point to a hard road ahead for Gov. Larry Rhoden, who proposed an optional half-percent county sales tax with the revenue to be used for reducing property taxes for homeowners.

Rhoden has already shepherded a property tax bill through the Legislature. The multifaceted law includes temporary caps on countywide increases in residential assessments, and on the amount local governments can grow their property tax collections based on new construction. By choosing a cap rather than budget cuts, and now by offering counties a sales tax, Rhoden has cast himself as a leader who would rather not disrupt county and school budgets.

Like Howard and her “tax shift” advertising tax, Rhoden is seeking a way to explain his proposal that doesn’t include the words “new tax.” Like Howard, he’s struggling. In a South Dakota Searchlight story, the governor said tourists were likely to pay some of the county sales tax. “Realistically, it’s a tax decrease for the citizens of the state,” Rhoden claimed. Only in the world of politics does a new tax equal a “tax decrease.”

However Rhoden explains his county sales tax for property tax relief, he’s certain to run up against a budget-cutting crowd of lawmakers who believe that counties and schools aren’t doing enough to restrain spending.

Rhoden has shown real political skill during his short time as governor, including his successful effort to get his property tax bill through a crowded field of competing legislation. Let’s see if those skills can handle selling a new revenue source for counties to tax-shy, budget-cutting Republican lawmakers.