We've moved!
DakotaFreePress.com!

Social Icons

twitterfacebooklinkedinrss feed

Thursday, November 25, 2010

South Dakota GDP up in 2009; Outperforming US Economy Since 1992

This week Governor Rounds cheered our solid GDP showing for 2009. South Dakota's economy grew 2.2% in a nationally dismal economic year. 38 states saw GDP decline in 2009; nationally, GDP declined 2.1%.

The growing GDP did not correspond with increases in sales tax revenue: Fiscal Year 2010, which ran from July 1, 2009, to June 30 of this year, saw South Dakota's taxable sales drop 1.5%.

Hmm: more GDP, more income per person, but less sales to tax. Could it be that an income tax would more accurately reflect the growing wealth and growing service needs of our state?

Expanding the historical perspective, South Dakota's economy has done fairly well over the last couple decades. Crunching numbers from the Census Bureau and from USGovernmentSpending.com, I find that since 1992, our state GDP per capita—i.e., the amount of economic activity divided by the number of people around to enjoy it—has grown at an annual rate of 4.8%. Compare that with our neighboring states:

GDP per capita: SD ND MN IA NE WY MT US
1992 21,005 20,295 25,611 22,042 23,848 28,434 18,162 24,869
1993 22,485 20,478 26,085 22,473 24,410 29,403 19,115 25,864
1994 23,968 22,358 28,070 24,797 26,829 29,622 19,957 27,217
1995 24,791 23,135 29,340 25,745 27,588 30,532 20,171 28,214
1996 26,576 25,653 31,387 27,671 29,743 32,811 20,668 29,554
1997 26,943 25,341 33,111 28,888 30,515 31,911 21,700 31,116
1998 28,706 26,742 34,691 29,289 31,219 30,591 22,852 32,539
1999 30,293 27,194 36,393 30,424 32,351 32,781 23,517 34,301
2000 31,771 28,462 38,194 31,858 33,404 34,511 23,945 35,268
2001 33,172 30,027 38,847 32,112 34,655 38,016 25,516 36,082
2002 36,184 32,228 40,111 33,639 35,504 38,737 26,128 36,978
2003 37,666 35,254 42,074 35,641 38,200 42,267 28,015 38,378
2004 39,505 36,673 44,754 39,435 39,958 46,315 30,093 40,498
2005 40,561 38,831 46,679 40,773 41,390 51,829 32,187 42,733
2006 41,154 40,938 47,785 41,937 43,482 59,906 34,089 44,873
2007 44,388 44,547 49,186 45,204 46,612 63,565 36,709 46,680
2008 46,970 48,714 50,573 47,456 48,317 72,383 37,057 47,446
2009 47,155 49,273 49,503 47,303 48,112 68,980 36,876 46,443
%incr 124% 143% 93% 115% 102% 143% 103% 87%
avg ann. incr 4.8% 5.2% 3.9% 4.5% 4.1% 5.2% 4.2% 3.7%

Annual State Gross Domestic Product per Capita, 1992–2009

In our neighborhood, only Wyoming and North Dakota have outperformed us in annual GDP per capita increase, and those two states have benefited from oil and coal. By this metric, all of us up here in the Northern Plains have outperformed the national average, with all but Minnesota more than doubling our wealth per capita since 1992. Nationally, per capita GDP has increased just 87%. Only in five years of the last 17—1995, 1997, and 2004 through 2006—has South Dakota's per capita GDP grown more slowly than the national average.

1 comment:

  1. "Could it be that an income tax would more accurately reflect the growing wealth and growing service needs of our state?"

    Good question.

    Why doesn't someone conduct an unbiased poll of the South Dakota working population and find out what they think of an income tax?

    ReplyDelete

Comments are closed, as this portion of the Madville Times is in archive mode. You can join the discussion of current issues at MadvilleTimes.com.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.