ITEP Work in Action
Testimony of ITEP’s Neva Butkus Before the Arkansas Senate Revenue and Tax Committee
September 12, 2023
The corporate and personal income tax changes under Senate Bill 8 would cost the state more than $200 million, with 70 percent of the overall cuts benefiting Arkansans in the top 20 percent of households.
Arkansas Advocates for Children: Lawmakers Returning To Work This Week Should Reject Costly Tax Cuts For The Wealthy
September 12, 2023
In a dramatic development, Arkansas lawmakers are returning to work at the state Capitol this week, after Gov. Huckabee Sanders called for a special session of the Legislature last Friday. Top of the agenda? Whether Arkansas should adopt another round of costly income tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy households and corporations, on top of cuts already […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children: Vital Services At Risk With Income Tax Elimination
March 31, 2023
We all want to live in a state with great schools, well-maintained infrastructure, thriving communities, and strong families. But Arkansas’s Governor and many legislative leaders have expressed their support for sharply cutting – or even eliminating – our personal income tax, which would undermine our ability to ever achieve this goal. Read more.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Tax Cut Plan Even More Expensive, Skewed Toward The Wealthy
February 7, 2022
The likely proposal for the long-discussed special session seems to have settled, and its main feature would be to cut the top personal and corporate income tax rates. This disproportionately benefits the wealthy, and the corporate income tax cut will largely be captured by out-of-state shareholders, meaning the revenue will leave the state economy entirely. […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Proposed Cuts to the Top Tax Rate Are Costly and Heavily Favor the Rich
October 8, 2021
As the Arkansas Legislature concludes the 2021 general session, our attention must turn to the special session they are preparing to begin to discuss personal income tax cuts. Although income tax cuts may sound like something everyday Arkansans would welcome, when we examine the details, it turns out most Arkansans will be getting a bad […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Tax Cut Bill Filed: Plan Revised But Not Fixed
January 31, 2019
An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the benefits of this proposal are even more heavily skewed towards the richest taxpayers than the previous version. That’s because there are no changes to the standard deduction, and all the significant changes in marginal tax rates only affect taxpayers with more […]
The Governor’s Proposed Personal Income Tax Cut: Who Wins and Who Loses?
November 15, 2018
Governor Asa Hutchinson proposed a personal income tax cut as part of his balanced budget plan for the 2019 legislative session, released on November 14.
Tax Proposals Target Benefits to Those at the Top, Corporations
November 12, 2018
The Arkansas Legislative Tax Reform and Relief Task Force’s recommendations would make the state’s tax system even more regressive than it already is. According to a new analysis by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy, the net overall impact of the combined recommendations would actually raise taxes on the neediest Arkansans. At the same time, it would target a bigger share of the decrease to those with the highest incomes.
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas Tax System Worsens Economic Inequality
October 17, 2018
Another key driver of inequality in Arkansas’s tax system is the preferential treatment given to capital gains income. Currently, half of all capital gains income is exempted, or ignored, from income taxes even though nearly no one makes a significant share of their income through capital gains (except for the top 1 percent). According to a report from the Congressional Budget Office, capital gains make up 38 percent of the income of the richest 1 percent of households in this country, compared to just 5 percent of the income for the poorest households.
Arkansas Times: Report: Arkansas Taxes Unfair ….. To the Poor
October 17, 2018
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is highlighting a new report relevant to ongoing legislative discussions of "tax reform." It does not suggest the problem is taxation on the rich.
Itchy Tax Trigger Finger: Tax Foundation Says Aim Toward Foot
August 6, 2018
Accounting for all the possible curveballs the future economy might throw at our state is impossible. That’s why legislators bother coming together every year to assess our budget and make choices based on the best available, most current information. One dubious new style of tax change, “tax triggers”, attempts to base major future tax and revenue changes only on the information we have today. Tax triggers are dangerous and generally work by automatically kicking in a tax cut when revenue or some other metric reaches a certain level.
On Tax Day, a Look at How Federal Tax Changes Impact Arkansans
April 17, 2018
Taxes allow us to invest in public programs that help everyone, but recent federal tax cuts are shifting those dollars to the Arkansans who need it least. Those tax cuts are expensive–to the tune of $1.5 trillion dollars over 10 years. Nearly a third of Arkansas’s total operating budget is made up of federal revenue. This means that on top of federal budget changes, our state budget will also be forced to make cuts to things that Arkansas kids and families rely on today, like parks, community colleges, and firefighters.
E.I.T.C. Spells LOVE for Kids and Families in Arkansas
March 16, 2018
Many people in our state work at low-paying jobs. Arkansans who work hard for little money pay a much higher share of their income to state and local taxes compared to the wealthiest. That’s not the way it should be. Fortunately, there is a great option for Arkansas (just ask the 29 other states that are already using it!) that can help turn things around for working families. That option is a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC). At Arkansas Advocates for Children and families, we are so in love with the Earned Income Tax Credit that we decided to sing about it.
Here’s Why Arkansas Needs a State EITC
January 31, 2018
Arkansas is part of a shrinking group of states that haven’t started using tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), to build their middle class and help people move permanently out of poverty. Arkansas remains among the worst states for overtaxing the poor.
It’s All About the Context: A Closer Look at Arkansas’s Income Tax
January 10, 2018
The tax task force is rounding out its extensive review of the Arkansas tax code this week by looking at one of the most contentious tax topics these days: income taxes. So, are we a high-income-tax state or a low-income-tax state? In Arkansas, it depends a lot on how much money you make, and how you make it. For example, retirement income is exempt for the first $6,000; military retirement income is completely exempt; there are border-city exemptions if you work in Texarkana; and capital gains income from things like stocks or real estate sales is taxed much more leniently…
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: The Trump Tax Plan: What Would It Mean for Arkansas?
September 5, 2017
Who benefits and who loses under the Trump tax plan? An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates that Arkansas would fare worse under the plan compared to other states. Relative to our share of the U.S. population, we would be one of the 12 states receiving the lowest share of the total Trump tax cut.
Gov. Hutchinson’s low-income tax plan: A good start, but needs work
January 25, 2017
Governor Asa Hutchinson’s new tax cut proposal includes a break, at long last, for some of the lowest income working families in our state. The bones of this plan are good – it isn’t too expensive, and it includes a portion of the families making less than $21,000 a year who were left out of […]
Statement on Governor Hutchinson’s Low-Income Tax Plan
January 25, 2017
The following is a statement from Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Read more here
Akransas Advocates for Children & Families: 6 ways to make 2017 more prosperous for all Arkansans
January 11, 2017
Legislators have just kicked off the 2017 legislative session, and ideas for big changes are buzzing around the Capitol. AACF will be on the ground advocating for bills that are best for kids and families in our state. In order to make Arkansas a better place for all of us, AACF hopes that this year: […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Problems down the road with governor’s highway plan
January 9, 2017
“The governor wants to get through the first year by spending down some of the rainy day fund and using part of reamining surplus funds. As far as short term solutions, it could be a lot worse. But big problems with the Governor’s plan show up in year two and beyond. The plan leaves a […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Changing how we tax capital gains
February 2, 2015
A relatively small number of wealthy Arkansans who make money from the sale of investments reaped the benefits from the capital gains tax cuts passed in 2013. These expensive tax cuts, however, are likely to be scaled back. Today the House Committee approved a version of Governor Hutchinson’s middle-income tax cut that reduces, instead of […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Governor’s tax plan leaves out poorest Arkansans
February 2, 2015
The governor’s new tax cut plan is a step in the right direction for tax fairness, but leaves out the poorest 20 percent of Arkansans and raises concerns about how the lost revenue will impact vital programs for children and families. Despite tax breaks targeted to the middle class, and even a hike for the […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas ranks 11th in tax burden on poor
January 16, 2015
Arkansas ranks eleventh in the nation when it comes to taxing the poor. The poorest Arkansans, those making under $9,600 per year, pay two times more in taxes as a percentage of their income than wealthy Arkansans who make over $209,800 per year. A new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas tax system should do more for working families
October 22, 2013
According to a new report from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF), tax changes passed during the 2013 session consisted largely of personal income tax cuts benefiting upper-income taxpayers and sales and use tax cuts targeted to specific industry groups. “A Better Foundation: Building a tax system that works for Arkansas families” makes the […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Benefits of HB 1585 go mostly to wealthy
March 27, 2013
According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), House Bill 1585 would target personal income tax relief to Arkansas taxpayers who make over $155,000 per year (the top five percent of earners). This group would receive one-half (50 percent) of the total benefits resulting from the tax cut. That’s compared […]
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