Pulaski County has just mailed out its property tax bills, and if you’re wondering how taxes in Arkansas compare with those in other states, our imperfect memory tells us Arkansas has a higher income tax than any of our border states. And that includes Tennessee, which doesn’t tax income on wages and salaries, and Texas, which has no state income tax at all. Arkansas, however, had the second highest sales taxes-on average-of any of the 50 states, over 9 percent including all state and local sales taxes. It’s 9 percent, for example, in Little Rock.
Pulaski County taxes real estate as a percentage of its fair-market value.
Specifically, 20 percent. The tax rate varies from town to town in the county, so that in Little Rock, the tax is 1.4 percent of the fair-market value, while in Cammack Village it’s 1.23 percent. Compare that rate to California’s, where its Proposition 13 limits property taxes to 1 percent of fair-market value. So if Arkansas’ property taxes are lower than some states’, they’re not as low as California’s.
Conclusion: With property taxes higher here than in California, income taxes higher than in any bordering state, and sales taxes higher than those of 48 other states, it’s no wonder that last week’s tax increase for Pulaski Tech lost overwhelmingly.
Editorial, Pages 12 on 03/17/2014