Blog

(November 2021) More than 20,000 K-12 students participate in the Pulaski County school choice market in the current school year, public records show. The market includes students enrolled in Pulaski County charter and private schools, along with public schoolstudents eligible for a choice program. Home school students are also part of the market but the […]

“The most callused aspect of the (Arkansas) education monopoly is that it willingly and deliberately forces children–except those whose parents have wealth–to attend bad schools. And it does so with financial resources taken from parents already struggling financially and at the expense of their ability to choose a better school for their sons and daughters.” […]

(September 2021) Arkansas policymakers have taken action to boost Arkansas’ economic competitiveness by cutting the top income tax rate from 7.0% to 5.9%. Gov. Hutchinson and state legislators are poised to take the next step by reducing the rate again in a special legislative session this Fall. Tax cut opponents maintain there is no economic […]

“There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, 1998  (July 2021) Opponents of tax cuts argue they do not impact economic growth. Yet federal data show border states without income taxes lead jobs growth. Payroll employment is the broadest state-level economic indicator. Among six states […]

“There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth … Rates on productive behavior should be reduced.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, 1998 (July 2021) Four of six states that border Arkansas have acted this year to reduce state income tax rates. They are Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana. A fifth […]

“There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth …Rates on productive behavior should be reduced.” “Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy Commission project, 1998 (June 2021) Three states that border Arkansas have taken action this year to reduce their top state income tax rates.The states are Tennessee, Oklahoma and Louisiana. […]

Department of Finance and Administration – Five-Year Review (2015-2020) In late 2015, Governor Asa Hutchinson directed executive agencies under his jurisdiction to assist the Arkansas Policy Foundation “in its evaluation of our state government and in its development of recommendations to streamline stategovernment and to make it more cost effective and citizen accountable.”1 Private Arkansas […]

“Dr. Thomas A. Bruce, former dean at UAMS told a Policy Foundation forum that prevention and “a team approach” are key to improving medical care access in rural Arkansas.” (Policy Foundation research memo, June 11, 2009) (March 31, 2021) Two measures expanding scope of practice for certified nurse practitioners have been approved by the state […]

(March 2021) A proposal pending in the state House of Representatives would reduce Arkansas’ top income tax ratefrom 5.9% to 5.8%, public records show. House Bill 1403, sponsored by State Rep. John Maddox, R-Mena, would lower the rate, fourth-highest in the 12-state southeast region behind South Carolina (7.0%), West Virginia (6.5%), and Louisiana (6.0%). Two […]

(March 2021) Arkansas’ job creation rate in the Leisure and Hospitality employment supersector declined after two minimum wage increases last decade, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records show. Early in the 21st century, Arkansas’ job creation rate in the sector (16.1%) bested the national average (13.1%) in an economic expansion (November 2001-December 2007). Growth […]