Don’t get me wrong, I will admit, I order stuff online. But I always try to find stuff locally first. Between thrift stores, retail and groceries 99% of my purchases are in Sioux Falls and when I can, I try to buy from locally owned businesses. Like I said, I am not perfect, but am also NOT the Governor of South Dakota.
What puzzles me is that while our governor talks about wanting to grow local businesses, we really know she plays the back door Washington game of licking the boots of corporate America. So that is why it didn’t surprise me when I saw her Christmas card this year she ordered from an online printing company and a design studio out of California. CALIFORNIA! Don’t get me wrong, it was nice, and many of my family members and friends did the same thing, but like myself, many did not. They used a local photographer or printer. I have been coordinating with local poet Charles Luden for around 20+ years to create a unique card each year, and we always print locally. This is 2020;
I am wondering why the Governor of our state didn’t use a local printer in Pierre? There are several.
No skin off my back, and I don’t really give two-sh!ts, but the next time Donita claims to care about Main Street South Dakota, it starts with the small things like ordering your Christmas card from the printer in your town.
Must be a Trump thing.
Does Amazon?
Very interesting column there Scott; we may actually be on the same page here, we as a State need to develop common policies that encourage people to spend their money locally, let alone favor investment in our locally owned Small Mom and Pop Stores here in South Dakota.
Interestingly, I just sent an email out to at least 20 legislatures, and city council members addressing this.
I am urging them to favor sales tax policies that actually lower the “In-State Sales Tax” collected at local retailers to 3.5%, while keeping the “Use Tax” which is collected on Foreign Transactions where “our citizens” buy things outside the states jurisdiction, this penalizes those whom take their business out of state, while rewards those whom keep their business in state.
In fact, when we passed that 2017 law to force OUT OF STATE RETAILERS to collect our sales tax up front, the same law is to lower the in-state sales tax.
I also encouraged the City Council to lower the First Penny Sales Tax to 0.75% for a term of 6 years inside the City.
Fact is, we need better sound policies to encourage investment inside South Dakota, definately during a time where the COVID-19 Agenda has threatened locally owned retailers like myself.
– Mike Zitterich