|
Dear Friend,
We need your help. Please call your Senator today and urge them to vote NO on HB1002 and HB1052.
The Arkansas House today passed 2 tax cut bills that need to be stopped in the Senate to preserve vital state services. It is irresponsible to cut taxes without telling the public where the corresponding cuts in state services will come.
The largest of these tax cuts, HB1002, benefits the wealthiest Arkansans almost exclusively – the people who need help the least – by cutting $68 million a year in capital gains taxes paid on stock profits, etc. The other tax cut, HB 1052, was a $3.8 million cut in big industrial utility bills.
Where will the state cut the budget to pay for these tax cuts? Should they cut k-12 education spending? Or cut higher education spending and raise tuition even faster? Or cut medical spending for children, the disabled and the elderly? Maybe we should cut programs that protect the environment or economic development?
The legislature won’t tell you – you have to trust them that the undisclosed budget cuts will do no harm! Arkansas is required by our constitution to balance its budget each year. So tax cuts now must be matched with budget cuts.
Everyone would like a tax cut, but the legislature should have a fair and transparent debate about taxes and the budget together.
Please join us in calling on the Senate to VOTE NO on HB1002 and HB1052 until the sponsors of these tax cuts come up with budget cuts to match.
We only support one tax cut this session: HB1056, which corrects a mistake 4 years ago that excluded single parents living in poverty with more than 2 children from a promised tax cut. HB1056 also passed the house today. This $3 million tax cut will help correct Arkansas’ unfair tax system, where our poorest residents pay over twice the tax rate that our wealthiest residents pay. Alternately, HB1002 and HB1052 make this system worse.
Find out who your state Senator is at Project Vote Smart - just enter your address to find your state legislators.
Please call your Senator today and urge them to vote no on HB1002 and HB1052. Ask them to support HB1056 to right a wrong done to low-income single mothers 4 years ago.
PS. Here are some points on the irresponsible capital gains tax cut you might like to make:
If the capital gains tax is removed, four out of five Arkansans will see little to no financial benefit.
If the capital gains tax is removed, the top 1 percent of Arkansas tax payers will split almost $50 million in tax savings, robbing middle-class families of investments in their communities like schools and health care.
Arkansas already has one of the most generous capital gains tax codes in the country. There is no critical need to eliminate this state revenue stream.
There is no guarantee or even evidence to suggest that those who benefit from the elimination of the capital gains tax will reinvest their money in Arkansas. Eliminating the capital gains tax gives people greater ability to invest outside of Arkansas, hurting our state’s economy.
|
