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Jobs Growth Means Economic Expansion

(August 5, 2022) Past Arkansas Policy Foundation research memos have identified cyclical turns in the U.S. economy prior to official announcements from the NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, the leading arbiterwithin the economics profession. Arkansas news media have reported these findings. One example is a Talk Business report (Sept. 10, 2010) on the Foundation’s identification […]

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The Fiscal Impact Of Repealing The State Capital Gains Tax

(June 2022) Policymakers have proposed phasing-out the Arkansas income tax, which generates about $4 billion in annual revenues. The Arkansas capital gains tax has generated between $54.7 million and $115.9 million in annual revenues in thepast decade, according to a recent communication from the state Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) and historical data. The […]

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States Without Income Tax Lead In Jobs Creation

(2Q-2022) States without an income tax led the Southeast and Arkansas’ border region in jobs creation in the first two years of the national economic expansion that began in April 2020, Bureau of Labor Statistics records show. Florida led the 12-state Southeast region in jobs creation between April 2020 and April 2022, the most recent […]

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Arkansas Trails U.S. In Jobs Growth, Leads 11 States

(2Q-2022) Three years into a national economic expansion, Arkansas trails the national average in jobs creation, according to a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records. Arkansas led 11 other states during the period. A national economic expansion began in April 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research notes. Between April 2020 and April […]

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Nearly 290,000 Pay Top Income Tax Rate

(March 2022) Nearly 290,000 Arkansas filers paid the top state income tax rate last year, according to a state Department of Finance and Administration document. Tax cut opponents claim only a few Arkansans pay the top rate. A total of 289,164 Arkansas tax filers paid the top 5.9% rate in 2021, the document shows. By […]

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More States Cut Income Tax Rates

“Arkansas would benefit from comprehensive, pro-growth reform; Arkansans are not under-taxed; taxes and rates do matter to entrepreneurs; dynamic scoring of tax changes and effects provides benefits.” Arkansas Policy Foundation Mission Statement (March 2022) Thirteen states including Arkansas reduced individual income tax rates in 2021. Policymakers in twoother states in the Southeast region–Georgia and Mississippi–took […]

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Business Cycles & Arkansas Income Revenues

(March 2022) The natural state of the U.S. economy is expansion, though recessions occur as a result of the business cycle. The economy is in the 13th expansion of the postwar era, according to the Cambridge-basedNational Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the arbiter of the U.S. cycle. In the post-war era, the U.S. economy expanded […]

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