Comments on: State Tax Primer from A to W: Arkansas

By: Hermit

Hermit — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:00:05 +0000

Tony,

If you have children, look at the schools.
If you are buying property, compare property taxes.
If you DON’T want to pay state income tax: Texas
If you want to live in a REAL state, Texas.
AR is the 47th poorest state.
If you want better roads, Texas.
Did I leave out anything?

By: Tony Tran

Tony Tran — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:43:58 +0000

We recently moved into Texarkana, AR, right between the stateline of the two, Texas and Arkansas. We are still wondering if it is better to live in which side.
Which one do you folks believe we should live in? Arkansas or Texas? Which one has lower cost?
Thank you very very much in advance!!
Tony

By: Hermit

Hermit — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:53:45 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with Doc. I’ve seen it first hand since I moved here from a real state (one that isn’t a joke, raping its citizens for higher taxes although one of the poorest states) about 25 yrs ago. I’m ready to vote with my feet and sell these secluded 71 lakefront acres & home on Beaver Lake in Benton County. (Contact me if you know someone who might be interested.)

The original figures need updating: GDP per capita now ranks 46th.
Total state taxes rank now 28th. But for one of the poorest state, this is still
deplorable!

Arkansas still taxes food in all forms whether grocer store or restaurant, but
at vastly different rates: simple, unadulterated food (like apples) @ 3%; but
add another ingredient like the cheese coating on chips, and the rate goes to
6%; eat in a restaurant and the rate goes to 10%. Taxing food is abominable!

Over the years I’ve seen my county pave roads with fewer residents with no important infrastructure like the water treatment plant a mile from me. We’re still dealing with six or more miles of dirt road which is wrecked regularly by a road grader. Perfectly smooth stretches which don’t need any
attention are left torn up with a couple of inches of loose dirt & rocks. Two steep hollows get no attention when needed, like after a snow or ice storm.

I moved here and built a house 25 yrs ago because land prices seemed 50 yrs
behind some of the real states I investigated. Local mentalities are are on a
par with GDP statistics.

This is the same county where Chi-Mart (read WalMart) corporate HQ is located. Because there is sparse competition, it charges more for groceries
than other cities where competition abounds.

When I built my house, no permit was required. Now, it’s paperwork city.

But, it’s not all bad. Annual renewal for a motor vehicle is only $17 or so. No
safety inspection necessary.

No wonder this state can’t entice industry here, it’s not business friendly.
Thank goodness I didn’t relocate to run a business!

I still enjoy spearfishing in the lake and the quiet seclusion of the woods, but
the more I know about how things are run here and where they’re headed, the more I am ready to get the fooga-da-booba out of here!

(I could have gone on about my personal experience with property taxes & assessments, but you probably get the general idea.)

By: Doc

Doc — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:14:23 +0000

The facts for Arkansas is that the state has and has had a great deal of corruption that goes back further than the kings of corruption, Clintons. I had a due diligence performed on Arkansas to decide if I should move one or more of my businesses in biotechnology to that state. It boils down to really bad leadership. Huckabee did absolutely nothing and his performance can be verified by reviewing his highly documented poor record of accomplishments. We found that the Bum actually increased overall taxes. There are two main issues with Arkansas. The first is the high number of government employees at wages of 16 to 25% higher than equivalent industrial positions. E.g., I checked today and a position is open now for a person to coordinate meetings at $45,000 – $63,000 That job in my company pays $34,000 like all industrial companies. Of course to pay for all the “VOTING” positions for Democrats, there must be a range of taxes. Understand that the real wages of Ark citizens have declined by 3%over the last ten years. If a citizen was making $30,000 in 1990, in 2010 that poor citizen is making $29,100. The respective state, government employee has seen an increase of roughly 3% per year. There is NO impact on government wages. Someone has to pay for it, and since goernment produces nothing the workers of the state pay for it. This is a tremendous burden for citizens of Arkansas..more than they will ever know. It is the spoils system at its best (worst). The second major issue is the property taxes on businesses. It is simply astounding. The property tax details is a 130 page detailed document on every possible tax on a business imaginable. In the case of a restaurant, the poor restaurant owner must assess his pots, pans, utensils, tables, inventory (food,beverages, etc.), square footage, and compile a detailed list on which the property tax is paid…what an ordeal! In addition,the owner will pay income tax and sales tax. In Arkansas the business owner cannot charge for the impact so profits are less, due to lower COL. There are counties in ARK, e.g that have over 84% of the people with educations: HS, BS,graduate and are among the top 100 counties with the most highly educated people having the lowest wages in the country. If I moved my busines to ARK I would have an extra burden that would require two additional hires to comply with the ARK taxes. The impact on profit would be close to 25%. Of course that is why no one except psychotics would move or start a business in ARK. That hurts the citizens, and explais ARK position as 49th in GDP. A reflection of ARK poor government. All the dumb-bells, including Hucksteer Huckabee, need to do is compare their SOP with states like Texas. Ark is a very sad state of affairs, and I was particularly disheartened as I would have liked to move at least one of my businesses into the state to help some of the good, hard-working, decent citizens who must endure a political and government environment that would rival AL Capone’s organization or serve as a model for Joe Stalin. Can you imagine a state that is 49th in GDP with the 14th highest tax burden coupled with no industrial or strong agricultural base!! A tribute to the statues of Clinton that one sees everywhere and to people like Huckabee. They should be ashamed to their graves.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:59:29 +0000

KL – I don’t know the answer to that but hopefully someone on the blog is familiar with those rules.

By: K L McKinney

K L McKinney — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:13:44 +0000

How much is the capital gains tax rate on principal residence in Arkansas?
Does it follow the Fed in allowing a certain amount of gain before it is taxable?

By: Roy Hughes

Roy Hughes — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:28:01 +0000

We have a Louisiana Retailer’s License for Mobile Home Sales. If we purchase a used mobile home located in Arkansas, is there any sales taxes to be paid? Where do I go to enter the VIN # to see if any back taxes might be due. There is no sales tax on mobile homes in Louisiana.

Please advise…Thank You…Roy Hughes

By: Casey

Casey — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:40:05 +0000

I have been working and living in SC all year, but I pulled out my state teacher retirement in Arkansas. I have a Form 1099R and the column 7 had a dist. code 1. So, I owe 10% penalty? Also, do I file a seperate return in Arkansas or file this with SC. How much should I anticipate to have to pay on a gross and taxable amount of $9,910.46

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:33:02 +0000

This is excellent information. My wife and I are considering moving to Arkansas in a couple of years. We are curretnly retired, and we moved to Ohio (from Texas) to take care of my wife’s mother, who is 87. We do not plan to remain in Ohio and we have always liked the Hot Springs area, so are looking at the possibility of relocating there or Hot Springs Village. It is nice to be able to come to one site and get information about the various tax structures for the state. I’m still wading through the material, but at least I now have a central location and then can ask questions as I go.
Thank you !!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:18:28 +0000

Thanks, duly noted and edited!