South Dakota lawmakers rejected a bill to replace school property taxes with a higher sales tax due to revenue and equity concerns.

South Dakota legislators advanced several proposals this week, including solid-black or solid-white license plates to help fund transportation, a move to place hemp regulation under federal oversight to save about $200,000 annually, and stronger tools to combat online child exploitation. However, Senate Bill 99, which proposed eliminating school district property taxes by raising the state sales tax from 4.2% to 6.2%, failed in the Taxation Committee. Lawmakers cited concerns over revenue instability, regressive tax impacts, and risks to school funding, underscoring the broader challenge—echoed nationally—of finding sustainable solutions to rising property taxes.