HURON — Young men and women would pay lower tuition and have the opportunity to enroll in more courses and training at South Dakota’s four technical institutes if voters pass Initiated Measure 25 in November, a proponent said.
IM 25 would raise $20 million — to be directed to a separate fund — through a voluntary tax on tobacco product sales, said Doug Balvin of Huron, who spoke in favor of it at Saturday’s election forum in Huron.
South Dakota’s technical school tuition is $235 per credit hour, or about $100 more than some of the neighboring states.
IM 25 would provide for more scholarships and hopefully keep more young people in the state to fill openings in the state’s workforce, he said.
But opponent Dan Nelson of Sioux Falls said it’s bad tax policy because it’s a tax on a small group of people for the benefit of others. If South Dakotans are serious about tobacco cessation, the money raised from increasing the price of cigarettes and chewing tobacco should be spent on that, Nelson said.
He asked what would come next: Would there be a new tax on cell phones, soft drinks or beer?
Nelson also produced copies of resolutions adopted by the South Dakota Republican and Democratic parties at their conventions earlier this year in opposition to IM 25.
Balvin emphasized that it would be a voluntary tax because people don’t have to smoke. Both of his parents were heavy smokers, and smoking leads to many deaths due to lung cancer and emphysema, he said.
Retailers, particularly those in communities near the borders, are concerned about a tax differential that would be created when people could drive to surrounding states to buy cheaper cigarettes, Nelson said.
While technical schools are important in South Dakota, he said, “this is just a wrong approach.”
Balvin urged all voters to educate themselves on all five ballot measures before going to the polls on Nov. 6.
In another segment at the election forum, Laurie Shelton, president and chief executive officer of the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau, read a resolution adopted by the chamber board of directors in opposition to Constitutional Amendment W on the November ballot.
She said the amendment has overreaching language and is written in a way that is not in the interest of the community.
