Personable, knowledgable, well spoken. Casey Crabtree seems like someone destined to make a career in politics. Right now, that worries me.
I heard him speak at a Lincoln Day Dinner and now see in a political mailer his number one claim as he campaigns for re-election is that as Senate Majority leader he helped deliver South Dakotas largest tax cut. That may be true in terms of dollars, but we need the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say, to know the truth.
In 2016 the sales tax was increased from 4% to 4-1/2%. The law that made that change required that if we were ever able to collect sales tax on internet sales, the tax would return to 4%. Collecting sales tax on internet sales happened following the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision in 2018. So, in 2019 our state legislature began the debate on when to change the rate back to 4% as the law required. There was a need to be patient and make sure the mechanics were in place to collect the tax, and the pandemic added uncertainty, but the change took longer than it should have.
By 2021, the House of Representatives, where I have served the past 8 years, was ready to make the change, but the Senate would not. Finally, in 2023, and after much wrangling, the legislature lowered the tax, but not back to 4%, as the law required. Instead, the tax was lowered to 4.2% and now includes a sunset where the tax will revert to 4.5% in 2027. Both the smaller tax cut than required and the sunset that are now in the law were products of Crabtrees leadership of the Senate. So, to claim he helped deliver South Dakotas largest tax cut is a real stretch. The truth is your tax cut should have been bigger, the law required it, and Crabtrees efforts prevented that from happening.
Scripture says, . . . And whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much. (Luke 16:10)
I write this in hopes that Casey will change course. A political career built on spin and half truths will eventually lead to outright lies and corruption. Crabtree knows better. South Dakota deserves better.
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