Arkansas Blog

Thanks for the update. When Sen. Glover compared Beebe to Gen. Patton for this bold and courageous effort, I rolled my eyes with such force I fell off the bench and knocked myself unconscious.

I'd like to see the figures Benny Petrus has about the amount of money out-of-staters spend in grocery stores (and the attendant sales taxes collected from them) versus the amount lower income folks spend on groceries every week of the year.
Then I'd like to know the real reason he so strongly advocates an income tax rebate.
He needs to be hung by his ankles until the last penny falls out of his pockets, something a few of my older neighbors experience every time they go to the grocery store.
How many of you have been in the grocery store behind an elderly woman who segregates her food into desperately needed and less needed when she checks out? She has the clerk total the first group to make sure she will have enough money for that; then she adds the pint of butter pecan ice cream she's been craving since last month.
Of course car dealers never meet that woman because either she no longer drives or she's praying her old car will take her to the store just a few more years, until she dies.
Governor Beebe needs to use every last bit of his political expertise to kick Benny's pompous rear up between his ears.

Though the EITC (earned income tax credit) would be a progressive change to our tax structure, the elimination of the sales tax on food would be a powerful symbol. Ideally BOTH should be done as soon as possible.

I would hate to assign more intelligence to the House members than they deserve, but I can see how introducing the EITC, at the same time, in the House could sink both proposals. The EITC as an alternative could siphon away enough support to kill the food tax reduction. The EITC would probably need a super-majority in both houses to pass - very difficult to achieve.

Thus, there would be enough money left in the "surplus" to justify tax give-aways for business interests, instead of the average taxpayer. But that would be assuming that the DINOs in the House are really that devious.

It's a moral outrage to continue defense of this tax burden on the poor. Who's the car dealers minister? He should have a talk with the ethically challenged Speaker about fairness and justice. Would you buy a tax proposal from this guy????

That earned income tax credit is a bunch of hokey. There are lots of very low income people that DON'T FILE TAX RETURNS.

Is ANYONE in the legislature that is pushing for the EITC thinking about that? Or are they counting on it, and hoping that they can continue to tax the extremely poor for something they have to have to live?

ANYONE that is for the EITC is against the poor, plain and simple. Give the poor their food without taxing them for it!