[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 182 (Thursday, November 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17187-S17188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   GOVERNOR SAYS HE'S WORRIED STATE MAY BE TOO DEPENDENT ON GAMBLING

 Mr LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask that the following article be 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

[[Page S 17188]]


              [From the Associated Press, Sept. 12, 1995]

   Governor Says He's Worried State May Be Too Dependent on Gambling

       Sioux City, IA.--South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow said he is 
     worried his state might be getting hooked on gambling 
     revenue.
       Janklow said South Dakota has been saturated with gambling. 
     State government is heavily dependent on gambling revenue, 
     with video lottery proceeds accounting for between 15 percent 
     and 17 percent of the general fund budget, Janklow said.
       If the economy slows down and people have to limit 
     spending, gambling will be one of the first expenses people 
     cut out, Janklow said. The resulting drop in state revenue 
     would ``hit us right between the eyes,'' Janklow said.
       Gambling revenue should have been treated as ``one-time 
     money'' and not intended to continue each year, Janklow told 
     a meeting of the Sioux City Downtown Rotary club Monday.
       But changing the state's reliance on gambling revenue will 
     be difficult, Janklow said. Tax revenues in South Dakota grew 
     at three times the rate of inflation in the nine years before 
     he took office for a third time this year, Janklow said.
       If taxes grow at about the same rate as income, people 
     grumble, but do not revolt, Janklow said.
       ``That's what we had (last year), a revolt,'' Janklow said.
       Voters defeated a ballot measure that would have slashed 
     property taxes by one-third. A property tax cut plan proposed 
     by Janklow and passed by the Legislature promises homeowners 
     and farmers a 20-percent tax cut.
       South Dakota's economy will have to grow to offset money 
     lost to the property tax cut, Janklow said.
       A few state lawmakers have said a state income tax is the 
     best way to ease South Dakota's financial straits. Janklow 
     said the state's voters will never agree to that.
       ``Working people are always going to vote no (on an income 
     tax) because they know the government is not going to be 
     honest,'' Janklow said.

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