The State Senate passed a bill Tuesday to continue tourism tax rates of half a penny to increase tourism. Some of the money raised go toward the Department of Tourism. The tourism department uses funds for marketing and arts agencies. State Senator Corey Brown says discontinuing the tax could cause more harm then most realize.
"Without this bill in essence the extra half penny would go away and we’d automatically cut our sales force. And I don’t want to specifically only focus on the tourism piece of this because there are other parts that benefit," says Brown.
Brown says the arts and cultural centers around the state also benefit from the tax. The bill passed the State Senate with nearly unanimous support with five voting against it. Those oppose say they object to how the money is spent. The bill heads next to Governor Dennis Daugaards desk for his signature. He has expressed support for continuing the half penny tourism tax.