By Caleb Taylor Arkansas legislators will make another attempt to rein in local special elections that have contributed to Arkansas having the third highest state and local sales tax rate in the nation at 9.51%. House Bill 1368 by State Rep. David Ray R-District 40 would limit special elections to primary and general election dates […]
Why does Arkansas have such a high sales tax rate?
By Caleb Taylor Arkansas is tied with Tennessee for having the highest average state and local sales tax rate at 9.47 percent, according to a midyear 2019 state and local sales tax report by the Tax Foundation. ACRE Scholar and Assistant Professor of Economics Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl discussed the relationship between Arkansas’s high sales tax […]
The Sales Tax, Special Elections, and Voter Turnout
By Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl Arkansas has the third highest combined state and local tax rate in the nation. How did this happen? Research we are conducting at the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics suggests that part of the reason is that many counties and cities have elected to increase their own sales tax rates. […]