Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – June 11, 2024 – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called a special session of the state legislature for next week to cut income and property taxes and fund the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Sanders will ask the legislature to drop the top state income tax rate to 3.9% (from 4.4%) effective January 1, 2024, and in following tax years. She also wants the rate for domestic and foreign corporations to drop to 4.3% (from 4.8%). The governor also wants to increase the homestead property tax credit from $425 to $500 effective January 1, 2024.
Sanders’ requests would cut income taxes by nearly $500 million and property taxes by about $50 million. The governor ultimately wants to phase out the state income tax altogether, a plan District 20 State Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro) supports. “When you look at states that surround us that have no income tax, their economies and communities are booming,” Sullivan said. “I think Jonesboro is poised to boom as companies and industries want to locate here. Eliminating the state income tax would help that.”
District 30 State Representative Fran Cavenaugh (R-Walnut Ridge) was glad to see the governor’s call. “We are going to be able to give money back to hard working Arkansans,” Cavenaugh said. “Working to reduce taxes helps more people keep more of their money in their pockets where it belongs.”
The governor is also expecting the legislature to pass a budget for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, something the legislators failed to do in the recent fiscal session. District 32 State Representative Jack Ladyman (R-Jonesboro) said “I want to make sure we fund Game and Fish. They provide a critical service to our state. Tourism is our #2 highest income industry. Game and Fish plays an important role in that.”
The Arkansas House adjourned sine die on Thursday, May 9, without approving an appropriation for the Game & Fish Commission. It was the first time in more than thirty years the legislature adjourned without completing its appropriations. The main obstacle to approving the Game and Fish budget was an almost $40,000 salary increase proposed for the Game and Fish director raising the director’s annual salary from $152,638 to $190,000. Ladyman says there is a proposed compromise which legislators will consider next week. Ladyman said, “the compromise is a good one that everyone should agree with.”
In calling for the special session, Sanders wrote, “”I’m calling a special session to give Arkansans hurting from Bidenflation income and property tax relief. Democrats in DC are failing, but we are blazing a path to greater prosperity for our people.”