PIERRE, S.D.(HubCityRadio)- On Friday, Attorney General Marty Jackley released his explanation for the amendment to replace property taxes with a transaction tax.

The statement if it makes it to the 2026 general election ballot is as followed:

“Currently, all real property-like land, homes, rental properties, and commercial buildings,- is taxed according to a formula by state law that accounts for the value of the property and its use.  Those taxes are collected by the county treasurers and distributed to the counties, cities and towns, school districts, and other political districts- like road or drainage districts-in the county.  Those tax funds make up the majority of the yearly budgets for those entities.

This amendment seeks to repeal this property tax scheme and replace it with a tax “on each retail transaction”.  For each “retail transaction” of $15 or more, a flat tax of $1.50 is assessed.  For each “retail transaction” less than $15, a 10% tax is assessed.  The amount of a “retail transaction” is based the “final purchase price” of the transaction.  This amendment does not replace or impact the assessment or collection of sales and use taxes or excise taxes.

This amendment requires the Legislature to create a designated fund for collecting and depositing these retail taxes.  The Legislature must also create systems to collect and submit assessed taxes and distribute the tax moneys.

This Amendment will need legislative or judicial clarification.”

Petitioners will need to gather 35,017 valid signatures in order for this to appear on the 2026 General Election ballot.

The deadline to turn in the petitions for the November election is Tuesday, May 6th.