Tax cuts – that’s the easy part

Arkansas Legislature, Arkansas Works, Jeremy Hutchinson, Mickey Gates, Jim Hendren, tax cutsBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When people have a lengthy agenda to complete, they can start with the easier stuff or the harder stuff. The Arkansas Legislature this session understandably started with the easier stuff.

The easier stuff is cutting taxes. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is determined to cut Arkansas’ top rate to 5.9 percent so it won’t be the highest in the region. He says it sticks out like a sore thumb when he’s trying to recruit business and industry.

The hard part was working out the details and making sure the budget didn’t take too big a hit. Both pretty much have been accomplished. It still has to get through the House after passing the Senate, but while there still may be small hurdles to overcome, it eventually will happen.

The tax cuts are easier because the state has some extra money. That’s happened because policymakers here govern relatively responsibly – way more so than in Washington, D.C. – and the state is benefitting from a strong national and global economy and a seemingly generous federal government.

None of those should be seen as permanent realities, including the last two. We’re experiencing one of the longest economic expansions in modern memory, and what goes up will eventually level off. The Brits’ increasingly messy divorce from Europe is just one of many factors worldwide that could gum things up. If the global economy slows down, it will affect Arkansas. Continue reading →

The four words Dr. Pakko forgot

Dr. Michael Pakko

Dr. Michael Pakko, shown in a file photo.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When Dr. Michael Pakko testified against a bill making it harder for third parties to compete Tuesday, he didn’t use the four words that would have been the most persuasive to lawmakers.

Pakko, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas chairman, spoke against Senate Bill 163 by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado. Garner’s bill would increase the number of signatures third parties must collect to qualify for the ballot. It’s currently 10,000. Garner’s bill would increase it to 3 percent of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. In 2020, that would be about 26,746.

Under current law, any political party not attaining 3 percent of the vote in a presidential or gubernatorial election is a “new” party and must collect signatures the next time. Pakko’s Libertarians have been inching toward that percentage in recent elections. Last November, their candidate for governor, Mark West, won 2.9 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday, the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee met earlier than expected and dispensed with the bill on a voice vote before Pakko arrived.

Given a chance to speak at the meeting’s end, Pakko called it a “clear effort to suppress competition in Arkansas’ political process.” He pointed out that more than half the state legislative candidates in 2018 were unopposed, so it’s not like Arkansans have too many ballot choices.

“The fact that it includes an emergency clause makes it even more evident that it’s intended to stifle competition in the 2020 election to the benefit of current incumbent politicians and their entrenched political parties,” he said.

It also runs afoul of a 2006 case, Green Party of Arkansas v. Daniels. There, a judge ruled that a previous 3 percent limit was unconstitutional and required the state to give the Green Party a spot on the ballot. In fact, that ruling led the Legislature to adopt the 10,000-signature threshold, Pakko said.

And that’s when he didn’t use the four words that would be most effective with lawmakers as the bill moves through the House. Continue reading →

Taxing cigarettes – both kinds

Jim Hendren, tobacco tax

Sen. Jim Hendren is considering if tobacco taxes should be raised and if e-cigarette taxes should be enacted.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

What do these five numbers mean to you: $795 million; $230 million; $1.15; 0; and 1.5 million?

This year, they might mean a tax increase on cigarettes, both the old-fashioned kind and the e-cigarette kind. Or at least, they might should.

The first two numbers compare what tobacco products cost Arkansas taxpayers through the Medicaid program, $795 million, vs. what tobacco taxes raise, $230 million.

The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement says Medicaid spends $795 million annually to treat tobacco-related illnesses among adults ages 30 to 65. That number doesn’t include older Arkansans, young people, or pregnancy-related health issues.

However, the state’s tobacco taxes only raised about $230 million in 2017. That’s about $565 million less than what Medicaid is spending.  Continue reading →

No State of the Union? Who would miss it?

Shutdown, impeach, Ryan, No Labels, SOTUBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It just keeps getting worse and worse. That was my initial reaction after reading in the newspaper that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had blocked President Trump from giving the State of the Union address because of their disagreement over the government shutdown.

Upon further reflection: If it doesn’t happen, will anyone really miss it?

If the SOTU were an annual description of national challenges and solutions, it would be worthwhile. Instead, it is boring and pointless political theater.

Year after year, Americans are subjected to the same show. The president makes his way through the crowded aisles. He offers a laundry list of policy proposals, most of which have no chance of passing and often serve mostly to satisfy his base or some political interest group. His party’s members interrupt constantly with standing ovations while the opposing party’s members sit stone-faced. Then the opposing party gets its own speech.

That’s an hour-and-a-half we never get back, and of course it must be followed by pundits – which I guess I’m one – telling us what it all means.

It doesn’t have to be this way, and it wasn’t for much of the nation’s history. Continue reading →

Abortion debate continues inside, outside Capitol

March for Life

Here’s part of the crowd at the March for Life Sunday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. French Hill were among the speakers.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

One issue will draw a large crowd to the Capitol steps on a near-freezing Sunday afternoon along with a smaller but fired up rally to represent the other side the day before. And it’s not Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan to combine state government agencies.

That issue is abortion, which was legalized nationwide by the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision 46 years ago.

Clearly, Arkansas’ Republican leadership is pro-life. The March for Life Jan. 20 featured brief remarks by Hutchinson, Sen. Tom Cotton, and U.S. Rep. French Hill. Most of Arkansas’ other statewide officials also participated, as did a number of state legislators.

Pamela Merritt, co-founder of Reproaction, and Philander Smith student and activist Maria Meneses were among the speakers at the Rally for Reproductive Justice.

Hutchinson pointed out that Arkansas ranks second in Americans United for Life’s “Life List” that ranks states based on their abortion laws, behind only Arizona. At least six abortion-related bills have been filed or will be filed this legislative session.

Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, has filed two of them. Senate Bill 2 would ban abortions when the child has or may have Down syndrome. Senate Bill 3 would require abortion providers to report complications to the state Department of Health, which would annually publish a report online. Senate Bill 149 by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, would outlaw abortions in Arkansas if the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade.

Arkansas Right to Life is pushing two bills.  Continue reading →