Truckers in South Dakota are angry about a tax they’re only having to pay in Nebraska. Several South Dakota leaders met in Lincoln this week with Governor Heineman and several Nebraska legislators. South Dakota state Senator Frank Kloucek of Scotland says trucking firms are being asked for taxes on business in Nebraska going back seven years.
“The main issue is going back and taxing people when they don’t even know that they owe a tax,” Kloucek says. “How can you even recoup those losses for something like that? It just seems so unfair.”
Kloucek says more talks will be needed. He says it was suggested that South Dakota charge an income tax on truckers from Nebraska, but South Dakota doesn’t have a corporate income tax so that’s not an option. “How can you do that and why would you want to do retaliatory things?” he asks. “That’s not in the spirit of good government, good fair taxation, I don’t feel.”
Kloucek says he has heard some South Dakota trucking companies are being hit with tax bills of up to 60-thousand dollars. Kloucek says there are also questions about how the tax is applied. He says it appears Nebraska is “coming after” South Dakota with this tax “the first and the hardest.” Kloucek says there were promises of legislative action next year in Nebraska.
Thanks to Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton