(October 2023) Nearly 5,000 Arkansas K-12 students have taken advantage of the education savings account (ESA) component of the LEARNS Act, according to a Policy Foundation analysis of state Department of Education data. LEARNS is a major education reform advanced by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It is an acronym for literacy, empowerment, accountability, readiness, […]
“The state’s income tax should be reduced … Consider an across-the-board cut, reduce the marginal rates, exempt taxpayers below a certain income level from filing, and expedite the process of indexing for inflation (ImprovingProductivity by Reducing Taxes and Taxes and Savings in Arkansas, Arkansas Policy Foundation, 1998 study) (September 2023) Following is a brief Arkansas […]
(July 2023) Arkansans defeated a marijuana legalization measure last November after approving an initiated medical marijuana amendment in 2016. The 2022 proposal would have established a lower tax rate than the 2016 amendment. (1) A Tax Foundation report states, “Recreational marijuana taxation is one of the hottest policy issues in the U.S.” (2) APF has […]
(July 2023) Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; her predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and state legislators have reduced the income tax rate to 4.7% since 2015. The top state income tax rate was 7.0% a decade ago. Some critics make class-warfare arguments to oppose the tax cuts. Others claim the state cannot afford them. Another […]
(2Q-2023) The average score of Arkansas fourth- and eighth grade students “was not significantly different” from their average score in 1998, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Center is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education, and is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. Gov. Sarah […]
(May 2023) States without an income tax recorded higher levels of population growth than the national average and states in local regions, according to decennial U.S. Bureau of the Census data. Regional Population Growth Census data shows population growth in Florida led the 12-state Southeast region (2010 to 2020). Texas led the border state region […]
(May 2023) Policy Foundation research concludes states without an income tax create new private-sector jobs at rates greater than the national average. This observation is demonstrated by calculating growth rates in periods of economic expansion. The U.S. Bureau ofLabor Statistics (BLS) compiles jobs data. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determines expansion dates. A […]
(May 2023) Historically, Arkansas critics of income tax cuts have relied on class-warfare arguments to oppose the policy. More recently, some critics have tried to argue that no-income tax states do not generate higher income growth. The Policy Foundation, in a 2004 research memo (“High Growth States”) noted factors influencing economic development “include tax rates; […]
Phonics is the instructional practice that once made America the most literate nation on earth. It relies on an intensive, systematic approach … children learn to read by first learning the sounds and syllables of the English language. Then they can put syllables together like building blocks to quickly acquire a reading vocabulary as broad […]
Enrollment Greater Than Public School Districts “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 […]
The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations.
The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations.
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