Current:Home > Contact-usArkansas lawmakers advance tax-cut bills and try to stave off shutdown of hunting, fishing agency-LoTradeCoin
Arkansas lawmakers advance tax-cut bills and try to stave off shutdown of hunting, fishing agency
View Date:2024-12-23 20:21:34
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers on Monday advanced income and property tax cuts and a compromise proposal to avoid a shutdown of the state’s hunting and fishing programs.
Lawmakers moved quickly on the main agenda items for the special session Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called last week. House and Senate committees endorsed identical versions of the tax cut measures, setting up initial floor votes in the predominantly Republican Legislature on Tuesday morning.
If approved, the income tax cuts would be third signed by Sanders, who has called for phasing out the income tax since she took office last year. The state has been forecast to end its current fiscal year with a $708 million surplus.
“I think we’re in a good position to further reduce this tax burden on our citizens,” Republican Rep. Les Eaves said.
The legislation calls for cutting the top individual income tax rate from 4.4% to 3.9% and the top corporate rate from 4.8% to 4.3%, retroactive to Jan. 1. Finance officials say the cuts will cost about $483 million the first year and $322 million a year after that. The proposals are expected to easily pass both chambers, with most Republican lawmakers signed on as co-sponsors.
Democrats in the Legislature and advocacy groups have said they are worried the cuts are too skewed toward higher earners and have said the revenue could go toward other underfunded needs.
“Before cutting taxes again, we ask that you please invest in critical programs that help children thrive,” Keesa Smith, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, told a Senate panel.
The other bill advanced by the committees increases homestead tax credit from $425 to $500, retroactive to Jan. 1. The cut, which will cost $46 million, will be paid from an existing property tax relief trust fund that consists of revenue from a 0.5% sales tax.
Lawmakers had expected to take up tax cuts later this year, but they accelerated their plans after the Legislature adjourned this year’s session without a budget for the state Game and Fish Commission.
The appropriation for the commission, which issues hunting and fishing licenses and oversees conservation programs, stalled in the House last month over objections to the maximum pay for the agency’s director. The vote created uncertainty about whether Game and Fish could operate when the fiscal year begins July 1.
A compromise measure advanced by the Joint Budget Committee on Monday sets the director’s maximum salary at about $170,000 a year — $20,000 less than last month’s proposal. But it would require legislative approval for any raise that exceeds 5%. The commission’s director, Austin Booth, is currently paid about $152,000.
Booth said he was “absolutely fine” with the compromise, saying he wanted to ensure the agency would remain open and to increase trust with the Legislature.
“If this is the way to do it, then we couldn’t be happier with it,” Booth told reporters.
Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang, who co-chairs the budget panel, said he didn’t want the bill to be viewed as a precedent for future disputes.
“I just don’t want people to feel like we can’t work out that compromise when we’re supposed to be here in a regular or fiscal session,” Dismang said.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Megan Fox Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby With Machine Gun Kelly
- Ursula K. Le Guin’s home will become a writers residency
- Kim Porter's Dad Addresses Despicable Video of Diddy Assaulting His Ex Cassie
- Tuition is rising for students at University of Alabama’s 3 campuses
- 13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
- U.S. resumes delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza via repaired pier
- A clemency petition is his last hope. The Missouri inmate is unhappy with it.
- Teresa Giudice Breaks Silence on Real Housewives of New Jersey's Canceled Season 14 Reunion
- California researchers discover mysterious, gelatinous new sea slug
- Will Smith confirms he tried to adopt 'I Am Legend' canine co-star
Ranking
- Joey Graziadei Details Why Kelsey Anderson Took a Break From Social Media
- Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup Have Second Wedding in Mexico
- Wyoming pass landslide brings mountain-sized headache to commuting tourist town workers
- STD infecting periodical cicadas can turn them into 'zombies': Here's what to know
- Minnesota county to pay $3.4M to end lawsuit over detainee’s death
- India's Narendra Modi sworn in for third term as prime minister
- Kyle Richards Shares What She’d Pack for a Real Housewives Trip & Her Favorite Matching Sets
- High prices and mortgage rates have plagued the housing market. Now, a welcome shift
Recommendation
-
Mike Tyson-Jake Paul: How to watch the fight, time, odds
-
Things to know about FDA warning on paralytic shellfish poisoning in Pacific Northwest
-
The only surviving victim of a metal pipe attack in Iowa has died, authorities say
-
Police shoot 2 people in separate instances in Washington state
-
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul referee handled one of YouTuber's biggest fights
-
Man pleads not-guilty in Sioux Falls’ first triple homicide in a half-century
-
In Wyoming, Bill Gates moves ahead with nuclear project aimed at revolutionizing power generation
-
Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup get hitched a second time: See the gorgeous ceremony