More taxes collected — Arkansas has ended its fiscal year with a record budget surplus. So on Tuesday, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced plans to call lawmakers back into session next month to take up tax relief plans because of a record state budget surplus. During an appearance yesterday on Little Rock TV Station KARK, The Republican governor shared these details.
“Because we’ve created jobs, because people were getting higher wages, the revenues have continued to come in and we have $1.6 billion in additional surplus,” Hutchinson explained. “We’ve got to return that money, a portion to the taxpayers.”
The special session would be held the week of August 8th the main purpose of which is to reduce the level of the state’s tax collection. If approved, Hutchinson hopes then to reduce personal income tax rates to 4.9% by this January which would be two years earlier than planned. Data from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration shows the state's net available revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30th totaled $7.4 billion. The last record for the state's surplus was last year when the state reported a $945.7 million surplus.
