Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has announced a plan to put a constitutional amendment on the 2022 election ballot that would eliminate the state’s individual income tax.
Rutledge, who is seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2022, said she wants to make Arkansas more competitive with Texas, Tennessee and Florida, all of which do not have income taxes.
Individual income taxes are responsible for $3 billion dollars in state revenue, which is half of the state’s general revenue budget. Most of this budget helps fund public schools, human service programs, colleges and universities and public safety programs.
According to the secretary of state’s office, petitions for a proposed constitutional amendment require 89,151 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify for the general election in November 2022. These signatures are due in the secretary of state’s office on July 8, 2022.
While politicians and the state legislature have steadily whittled away at the individual income tax percentage, politicians on all areas of the political spectrum indicate that it could take several years, if not a decade, to completely eliminate the individual income tax.
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