Fayetteville Arkansas, University of Arkansas--Old Main Overview

Fayetteville Arkansas, University of Arkansas--Old Main Overview
Overview of Fayetteville, AR

Saturday, February 24, 2007

New Tax Cut Benefits Everyone in Arkansas

Effective July 1, 2007, the state sales tax on groceries will be cut in half – from 6% to 3%. The details are still being worked out but this much is definite: When you buy groceries for human consumption, you will be taxed 3% less than the current rate.

The average savings is estimated to be at least $200.00 per year for a family of four.

Other items you buy at the grocery store will continue be taxed at 6%. That includes such things as paper products, cleaning supplies, pet food, diapers, personal grooming items and miscellaneous household supplies.

The reduction in sales tax is possible because the State of Arkansas has a huge surplus on hand and that surplus seems to be increasing each month. One recent estimate is an $844 million surplus in the state’s coffers by June 30, 2007.

There are innumerable ways to spend the surplus – roads, education, tax rebates and reductions, health care, ad infinitum.

But here is the plain truth: No tax is more regressive and repugnant than a tax on food! Everyone has to eat and levying a sales tax on food simply means that the lower a person’s income, the higher the percentage of their income they must spend in order to feed their families.

I urge the legislature and Governor Beebe to eliminate the remaining 3% tax on groceries in the near future. But that might be hard--it would have been better not to tax food in the first place, as other states have done. But this tax cut is a step in the right direction.

Note: County and city sales taxes remain unchanged. It’s possible some local governments may find it possible to lower their tax rates in the future but they remain in place for now. For instance, Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville all have sales tax rates of 2%. In addition to the city taxes, Benton County assesses an additional 1% while Washington County’s sales tax rate is an additional 1.25%.

Please watch for an additional article I expect to write soon on other tax cuts already signed into law or under consideration in the legislature.

For more information:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/182567/

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/02/16/topics/assembly07/021607lrleggrocerytax.txt

http://www.arkansas.gov/dfa/excise_tax_v2/et_su_local.html

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