Our View

Our View

Addressing Arkansas’ meager median income

We all know, or should know by now, the efforts, programs and proposed legislation that have been implemented by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to better educate our children, enhance economic development, create better paying jobs and reduce the number of “poor” people dependent upon government subsidies.

Even with all that has been done and what is currently in the works, it had to be disappointing for Hutchinson and all those working toward these goals to learn that Arkansas’ median household income was the secondlowest in the country last year, according to a recently released survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.

So then, Arkansas’ 2015 median household income was $41,995, ahead of only Mississippi’s income of $40,593. Let us explain, median means half the household incomes in Arkansas were above $41,995 and half were below it.

It was surprising to learn that the state with the highest median household income was Maryland at $75,847.

According to this survey, the median household income in Arkansas was up only 1.7 percent from $41,302 in 2014, one of the four lowest increases in the country, ahead of only New Jersey with a 0.3 percent gain, Idaho, which gained 0.8 percent and New Mexico, which improved 1.2 percent.

We’re told Arkansas dropped one spot from 48th in 2014, when its household income was ahead of West Virginia and Mississippi. “This is not good news, obviously,” said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Sugarcoating the situation was Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who brushed off the findings by saying, “Because prices in Arkansas are among the lowest cost of living tempers the lower income numbers.”

Pakko went on to say, “Because prices in Arkansas are among the lowest in the nation, the purchasing power of incomes in Arkansas is far closer to the national average than incomes would suggest.”

Okay, we’ll go along with that assessment but, what offsets Pakko’s numbers are the taxes Arkansans are burdened with. For example, we vote ourselves “hamburger taxes”, we pay personal property taxes, we pay a variety of local sales taxes, utility taxes and fees and yes, we pay a state income tax on top of the federal income taxes. Arkansans are taxed to death and while Pakko’s remarks on the state having some of the lowest prices for goods the applied taxes offsets his assessment.

A proof of what we’re saying can be seen on any sales receipt especially when there are a number of goods purchases such as a weekly shopping trip to the grocery store.

Joining Pakko’s soft peddling the findings is John Shelnutt, the administrator for economic analysis and tax research for the state’s Department of Finance and Administration, who said the biggest contributor to Arkansas’ lower cost of living is housing costs.

Well, that is fine and good but a large percentage of Arkansans simply can’t afford to purchase a home, leaving them to pay a landlord for cover over their heads.

Let’s conclude by saying that no matter the measurement used, Arkansas generally is considered to be a relatively low-income state and, as Gov. Hutchinson is well aware of, the only way to address this major problem is successful economic development, improved workforce training as well as increasing the graduation rates for both primary and secondary education.

BIBLE VERSE

And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

10:27

Mark