SD House passes bill to feed low-income people

PIERRE, S.D. — A faltering tax refund program for poor people should be scrapped so the money can instead be given to a nonprofit organization that provides food to low-income families across South Dakota, the state House decided Tuesday.

The bill would repeal a program started in 2004 that has given low-income families a refund of the sales tax they pay on food. Because of rule changes, only 264 households are now receiving tax refunds.

The measure sponsored by Rep. Suzy Blake, D-Sioux Falls, would take the $838,362 remaining in the tax refund program and give it to Feeding South Dakota, a nonprofit that provides food to 450 organizations that distribute it to families throughout the state.

"Our state has the opportunity to significantly impact the individuals and families that are struggling with hunger every day," Blake said.

Feeding South Dakota can use the money to buy millions of pounds of food that will provide millions of meals, Blake said. For example, about $500,000 will provide nearly 2.5 million meals, she said.

A committee had rejected the bill, but Blake persuaded the full House to debate the bill anyway. It passed 49-18, getting only two votes more than the two-thirds majority needed to pass such special spending bills. It goes next to the Senate.

The program that has given poor people refunds of taxes paid on food was started in 2004 at the suggestion of then-Gov. Mike Rounds. It was part of an effort to defeat a ballot measure that sought to repeal the sales tax on food. The repeal measure failed, getting only 33 percent of the vote.

The refund program gave nearly $2.3 million to 34,580 households in 2005, but is expected to give only $59,000 to 264 families this year. The decline is mostly due to a 2009 change that ended tax refunds for families receiving certain kinds of welfare assistance.

Rep. Lance Carson, R-Mitchell, argued against the bill, saying the governor and Legislature might be reluctant to fund the nonprofit organization in the future.

But after the votes were counted, Carson was among the lawmakers who shook Blake's hand, hugged her and congratulated her for the bill's passage.

Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, said he supports the measure because the tax refund program was inefficient and he supports such partnerships.