Our View

Our View

Raising taxes isn’t always the solution

Just exactly when will the bureaucrats and politicians learn that raising taxes and throwing our money at a supposed problem doesn’t equate to successfully dealing with the issues.

Many of these very same public servants paid by us fail miserably at having the ability to make due with what they have without begging for more.

While Gov. Asa Hutchinson has effectively initiated ways to lessen the tax burden on tax paying Arkansans he is being told by legislative task forces, various governmental study groups, agency leaders and committees that more tax revenues will be needed to address such issues as special education, public schools, road and highway projects, overcrowded prisons, increased costs to provided subsidized health care as well as coping with DHS situations.

For instance, just the other day Hutchinson was questioned about a recent legislative tax force recommending changes to improve special education in Arkansas and the need to hire more teachers at an additional cost of nearly $110 million.

The tax force said there is a need to provide enough state funding to increase the number of special education teachers from 2.9 teachers for every 500 students to 3.3 teachers per 500 students.

Furthermore, this very same task force is recommending more tax dollars to provide more free school lunches, more tax money for people in poverty and more tax dollars to provide teacher raises.

While Hutchinson says he wants lawmakers to understand the economic burden to taxpayers in Arkansas and the need to continue to reduce the income tax rate the governor will also face recommendations from members of the Board of Corrections calling for a new 1,000-bed prison and the need to come up with an additional $150 million.

Hutchinson has made it clear there are less costly alternatives to addressing the state’s prison issues and says a new prison will not likely be on his agenda next year.

Since becoming governor Hutchinson has successfully reduced the tax burden on Arkansas taxpayers while coming up with alternatives revenue sources to deal with the state’s road problems, despite objections from some lawmakers who seriously sought to increase taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel to record levels.

That battle has yet to be decided in light of the fact that some lawmakers sponsoring legislation calling for increasing taxes on fuel have promised to continue their fight come January. They are convinced that the long-term solution to funding the state’s road needs lies in increasing the fuel tax along with other measures besides what Gov. Hutchinson has done.

Hutchinson’s political critics have said that his “Rob Peter to pay Paul” approach is a simple short term solution and has a negative impact on state agencies that have had their budgets impacted.

It is our belief that there is a growing number of struggling Arkansans who believe that taxation as a prime solution is not the answer to the problems facing state government. What these concerned taxpayers want from their political leaders and bureaucrats is being better stewards of their tax dollars and better utilization of what taxes they receive rather than simply calling for more taxation.