Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've always felt they should tax golf balls. I don't understand the sport, so there you go. I spend a lot of time putting tobacco in tubes, this gets the price way down. $6.00 for 6oz of tabacco, a $1.00 for 100 tubes, and no tax on the Indian Res. Yes I'm killing myself, but brother who had a problem with my smoking is already dead (cancer of the blood). Third person from Rapid City I know of, same thing. Is it in the water from the mines? A lot of us look at this cite for great memories growing up in S Dak. 15 yrs in Sx Falls, 1 Huron, 2 Pipestone. You block out the winters, and remember your days at Drake Springs. Just wondering what people are spending for heating now. I've got it down to less than $45. a mo. Never turned on the furnace in the mobile this year, and sleep in the motorhome with a electric heater & a Coonhound to keep my feet warm. I know, this won't work if I move back!
Ok, old timer SDakotans, WHERE are you getting the idea that SD has the "highest property tax rate in the nation"? Or close to the highest, whatever?????
I'm telling you based off other places I've lived, it is NOT anywhere close to the highest.
Well, I guess I'll put my .02 worth in too. I have lived in 6 states, in towns from 300 to over a million. This state is by far the best one so far. We live in a tiny town here and no one pushes me into a conversation if I don't want one. They are there if we need them and that's what's important. Sure things could be worse. I have to drive 4 hours to Rapid or 3 to Sioux Falls if I need specialty medical care, but it's a nice drive. Heck, this state's drivers are a LOT better than most of the places I've lived. At least I don't get shot at or run off the road if I scratch my nose and they think I'm insulting them.
Small schools may not be funded as well, but they sure put out a well rounded student. Our kids win awards all over the place. I went to a grade school with 6 of us in the 8th grade in Oregon and my G-kids aren't in one here that's much bigger. I've found that small town kids are a lot smarter in nearly every way then city kids. Drugs? I haven't found any town, big or small that doesn't have them. If they say they don't, then their lying. Have too many friends who are police that tell me so.
Things to do. Many people will tell you there's nothing to do where they live, but that's because they just don't go DO anything. Sitting in the house grousing about being bored isn't an excuse for not finding something to do. And heck yes, this is a great place if you're on a low income. I support our house, husband and usually 3 G-kids on my SSI which is under $700. a month and that includes occasional trips to a MacDs or DQ and Pizza Hut. Don't know of many other places where we could have bought a fully furnished house and 5 lots for $23,000. The light bill is about 1/3 of the last place we lived that was a lot warmer. If you have a beer budget don't yell if you can't have champagne.
I went to a college on one of the Res and it was a lot cheaper than in Oreg, OK,Wash. The classes were smaller & I got a good education. Didn't finish because we moved too far away for easy commuting, but I still get mailers from several colleges here inviting me to continue my education. I'm 62 and would like to finish, but that's another day.
SD may not have as many state programs but they know what to do with what they have. I've seen many well funded states that couldn't get their people to stay because the state admin was a total screw up. It isn't here.
Yes, I like it here, yes I have helped get 5 families to move here and they like it too. In our town 3 families have moved back after seeing the world and finding out just how much better it is here.
#11 out of 50 does NOT equate to "highest in the nation". There are 10 states worse off. Big difference.
Who said we have the highest? And having the 11th highest property taxes in the United States isn't bad?? South Dakota pays over twice as much in property taxes as Colorado and California. Not to mention the fact that houses here are appraised way above what you would actually get if you sold it.
MJ, you're not getting on my bad side. There's nothing wrong with a healthy debate. And knowing that many people don't like the smell of smoke is the main reason that I smoke privately~not in hiding, but I don't want to blow smoke at people who hate it. There are other things that I try to be respectful about such as wearing perfume that doesn't smell from a block away, etc. Some of it can be nauseating.
Oh, I agree. There are a lot of sites that show the proof of what smoking does to you. I'm not an advocate of smoking. If I could go back in time, I'm not sure if I'd start smoking or not. I'm so thankful to have been able to cut down a lot because in time, it could've done a lot of damage and I don't doubt that one bit. Keep in mind that's firsthand smoke. I've learned that all their studies aren't quite on the up and up. You remember how drinking coffee was gonna kill you and now they claim that if you drink 4 cups of coffee a day, it's actually good for you? Just an example of many things they once had all these facts on and yet a lot of it simply isn't true. And I dont' drink coffee, by the way, so that didn't affect me one bit. But it made many people worry that they're doing irreversible damage by having a couple cups of coffee a day.
The only thing I'm wondering is where will they find the extra $$$? They said that 25% of South Dakotans smoke. 70% of lottery players are smokers. If only half of those people take a weekend and bee-bop into another state instead of staying here and gambling, going to the entertainment that casinos offer, staying at the casino hotel, eating there, buying their smokes cheaper in another state, it will have an affect on our state finances. We will have the strictest smoking ban in the nation~nothing competitive~we'll be at number one. Will we get enough $$ IF the stimulus package goes through? I just don't understand how we'll make that $$ up.
As far as raising property taxes, I'm not sure if that would be a good idea either because we also have some of the highest property tax rates in the nation. It's offset a bit with the 30% discount and the fact that our housing is a bit cheaper then in many places, but that could put a strain on a lot of people. AND the farmers probably can't take much more of a property tax increase even though ag land is taxed at a lower rate then houses/apartments.
Good points... The smoking ban was killed today... Which I think is good... I think more time is needed... In all honesty, I could care less if it passes or not. But if it does, it needs to have stipulations and exceptions. For example, there is a bar in downtown Sioux Falls called Stogeez, which is a cigar lounge. If the strict smoking ban was passed, it would cut into their income deeply.
Here's an interesting link I dug up: List of smoking bans in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It looks like South Dakota is the only green state in the graphic on that site .
Quote:
Originally Posted by belami28
I've always felt they should tax golf balls. I don't understand the sport, so there you go. I spend a lot of time putting tobacco in tubes, this gets the price way down. $6.00 for 6oz of tabacco, a $1.00 for 100 tubes, and no tax on the Indian Res. Yes I'm killing myself, but brother who had a problem with my smoking is already dead (cancer of the blood). Third person from Rapid City I know of, same thing. Is it in the water from the mines? A lot of us look at this cite for great memories growing up in S Dak. 15 yrs in Sx Falls, 1 Huron, 2 Pipestone. You block out the winters, and remember your days at Drake Springs. Just wondering what people are spending for heating now. I've got it down to less than $45. a mo. Never turned on the furnace in the mobile this year, and sleep in the motorhome with a electric heater & a Coonhound to keep my feet warm. I know, this won't work if I move back!
Tax golf balls? There's already a sales tax here...
I'm not sure what homeowners pay for heat here... I rent, and the heat is payed for in my rent.
California may have cheaper property tax rates, but let's look at the price of a dumpy home. $500,000 for a home we pay $150,000 for here. My aunt and uncle had a 3 bedroom 1 bath ranch house with no basement and paid $300,000 for it in the 70's, in a suburb of LA. They turned around and sold it for $500,000 in the 90's and bought a 5 STORY 6 bedroom home ON a mountain in Colorado outside of Vail for the same money.
Other states prob have cheaper prop tax because they have state income tax, and higher sales tax rates. Denver is at 8% sales tax or more now I believe.
You can't have it both ways. I think you're darn lucky you don't have state income tax taken out of your checks.
Being that I've lived in 2 other states that both have higher property taxes, I don't get all the whining here.
If we don't do something the roads will continue to be crappy and the public school system will continue to go down the tubes, along with teacher salaries.
If we don't do something the roads will continue to be crappy and the public school system will continue to go down the tubes, along with teacher salaries.
I agree that property taxes are important for education and infrastrucrure but you have to admit that the reason for bad schools comes mostly from federal mismanagement of funds and NCLB. Hopefully Obama's administration can change that. I'd also like to know where all this video lottery money is going...
You also say that you've lived in 2 other states with higher property tax rates, but you got your house in Omaha for $97,000. I'm sure you didn't pay as much in taxes as people in Rapid City that live in $250,000 homes that are appraised by the IRS at $300,000. That puts their taxes at about $350-400 per month, but if they went to sell their house for $300K they'd get laughed at.
Then you say you'd support any property tax increase that comes your way... Congratulations, because Rapid City takes the maximum increase they can on property taxes every year, yet NCLB and federal mismanagement keep your kids from attaining a good education. Sure, we don't have income tax but city sales tax is 6% and there is no relief from it on groceries and clothing like in many other states. Then they try to fix the problem by increasing the tax on tobacco to one dollar per pack... but then they ban smoking in public places which leads to less money being spent on tobacco and therefore less taxes, so we're back at square one and the only option we have is to raise property taxes the most we can.
Then people from California and Colorado come out here and build expensive homes that would cost them $2.3 million out there but they get for $500K here. They build that house in a neighborhood where all the other houses cost about $150K-200K so everybody elses' taxes go up because some retired yahoo from the West Coast got a good deal out here in the sticks. Not to mention, he's retired so he does nothing to stimulate the local economy except eat at restaurants, go fishing, and shop at Herberger's. So all these property taxes go up and when businesses from out-of-state look at Rapid City they get really attracted until they learn that it's a retirement haven and property taxes take the highest possible rise every year. So no good jobs or industry comes to town and you're stuck with your 9-5 job trying to make ends meet while your property taxes go up every year and the NCLB dumbs down your kids. And now you can't even enjoy a cigarette.
Then you say you'd support any property tax increase that comes your way... Congratulations, because Rapid City takes the maximum increase they can on property taxes every year
In the 5 years I've lived here, my property taxes have only gone up $300 per year.
The 5 years I lived in Omaha, they went up $350.
Property tax on my $97,000 home were $2500 in Omaha. My realtor paid $3500 on her $300,000 home East of the churches up on Mt Rushmore Rd. Seems more like I was getting ripped off in Omaha, then she is here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
living in SD
There's nothing wrong with a healthy debate. And knowing that many people don't like the smell of smoke is the main reason that I smoke privately~not in hiding, but I don't want to blow smoke at people who hate it. There are other things that I try to be respectful about such as wearing perfume that doesn't smell from a block away, etc. Some of it can be nauseating. 
.
