STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
OFFICE OF
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 20, 1970

Reed Hutchinson
States Attorney, Beadle County
Huron, South Dakota 57350

OFFICIAL OPINION NO. 70-32

Taxability of Republican and Democrat Headquarters at the State Fairgrounds

Dear Mr. Hutchinson:

You have requested my official opinion on the question of whether or not the headquarters buildings of the Democrat and Republican parties located at the State Fairgrounds in Huron are exempt from ad valorem taxation.

You state that these buildings, owned by the respective parties, located on leased sites owned by the State of South Dakota, have been assessed for the year 1970 by the City Assessor in Huron and that the representatives of both political parties have appealed to the county board contending that the buildings are exempt under the provisions of SDCL 10-4-9 as belonging to charitable and benevolent associations.

In my opinion, neither the Democrat nor Republican party qualifies as a charitable or benevolent society under the provisions of 10-4-24. Even though they serve as an integral part of the political structure of the state, their purposes are primarily private in character as opposed to public, and I find nothing in the lax exemption laws of the State of South Dakota which would qualify this property for tax exemption. Neither do I feel that the fact that the building site itself, the State Fairgrounds, is state property and therefore exempt from taxation, would exempt the structures placed thereon by private individuals from ad valorem taxation. This property does not come under the same category as that contemplated in SDCL 10-4-23 which relates to property owned by the state which is held under a lease for a term of three years or more. Here, structures added to real property, which is in the nature therefore of personal property, is owned by the taxpayers in question and therefore this can be distinguished from the holding in 1959-60 AGR 356.

Respectfully submitted,

Gordon Mydland
Attorney General