Legislators on the Arkansas Tax Reform and Relief Task Force on December 6th discussed possible changes to property taxes in the Natural State. Randy Bauer of PFM, the consulting group under contract with the state of Arkansas, began the meeting with a broad overview of recent tax reform efforts across the country. Bauer’s commentary was […]
ACRE Review
Are Targeted Business Subsidies Good For Economic Growth?
Can Arkansas’s public officials stimulate the economy with targeted business subsidies? ACRE policy analyst Jacob Bundrick and scholar Dr. Thomas Snyder investigate this question in a working paper titled “Do Business Subsidies Lead to Increased Economic Activity? Evidence from Arkansas’s Quick Action Closing Fund.” The study, released by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University […]
Tax Reform Task Force Hears From Other States’ Legislators on Successes, Failures
By Caleb Taylor Members of the Arkansas Tax Reform and Relief Legislative Task Force met Tuesday to hear from state legislators from North Carolina, Oklahoma, Kansas and Indiana about the successes and shortcoming of their respective tax reform efforts. General themes common in testimony throughout the day were that tax reform should be done deliberately, […]
Bundrick talks data use and integrity
By Caleb Taylor ACRE Policy Analyst Jacob Bundrick participated in a panel on November 4th on how data can shape community development. The panel was part of an event entitled “Community Development Basics: How To Strengthen Arkansas Communities” hosted by UCA’s Center for Community & Economic Development. Bundrick spoke about how data can be used […]
Property Taxes in Arkansas
By Jeremy Horpedahl and Nicole Kaeding (Cross posted at the Tax Foundation blog) This week Arkansas’s Tax Reform and Relief Task Force continues its work of investigating how to improve the tax system in Arkansas. In addition to hearing from legislators from Indiana, North Carolina, Kansas, and Oklahoma on their tax reform experience on Tuesday, […]
Task Force Examines Sales and Excise Tax Challenges, Fixes
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas’s Tax Reform and Relief Legislative Task Force met on November 7th and 8th to discuss the state’s sales and use tax, as well as excise taxes (click links to see presentations). As the Task Force continues to meet, ACRE will offer summaries of the proceedings and how they relate to tax […]
Civil Asset Forfeiture Needs More Accountability
By Caleb Taylor Angela Erickson, a former senior research analyst at the Institute for Justice (IJ), visited UCA in September to speak about civil asset forfeiture. Erickson is a co-author of Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture (2nd ed.) in which Arkansas receives a D-. Her work has been cited by the Obama White […]
Shine a Light on Local Governments
By Caleb Taylor In an op-ed published Thursday in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, ACRE Policy Analyst Dr. Mavuto Kalulu and ACRE Research Assistant Terra Aquia discuss the need for greater transparency of county government operations in Arkansas. According to Kalulu and Aquia, county governments in general are far less transparent than state government in Arkansas. Kalulu […]
How to Improve Arkansas’s Sales and Use Tax
By Nicole Kaeding and Jeremy Horpedahl [Also posted at the Tax Foundation blog] Arkansas’s Tax Reform and Relief Task Force will continue its job of working to improve Arkansas’s tax system next week. Now that the process of choosing and hearing from the consultant, PFM Group, is done the Task Force is now really getting […]
Occupational Licensing in Arkansas
By Alexandria Tatem A recent policy brief by the Mercatus Center highlighted Arkansas’s excessive occupational licensing policy. When the state government imposes licensing requirements on an occupation, it means a worker must get permission from the state before practicing that profession. The worker typically has to have a minimum level of education and experience, pass exams, […]