State Representative Charlie Collins: Intentionally Misleading or Just Ignorant of the Facts?
State Representative Charlie Collins:
Intentionally Misleading Or Just Ignorant Of The Facts?
(LITTLE ROCK) — A recent letter to the editor by State Rep. Charlie Collins (R-89) published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette leaves voters to wonder if he was being intentionally misleading about Arkansas’s economy and deriding the state or, even worse, was he ignorant of the facts?
“What is worse, if Charlie Collins was intentionally misleading people and badmouthing Arkansas’s progress or if he was just ignorant of the facts? He owes the people of Northwest Arkansas an explanation,” Democratic Party of Arkansas Spokesman Candace Martin challenged. “Politicians shouldn’t use these lean economic times as an excuse to falsify facts or mislead Arkansans. Rep. Charlie Collins condemned Arkansas for making no economic progress when in reality USA Today ranked our state 11th in the nation for personal income growth. It is bad enough when people from other states talk down about Arkansas, but for an elected official to do so, and falsely, is inexcusable.”
Collins made claims that Arkansas hasn’t economically made “substantial progress in decades” and that Arkansas remains near 75 percent of the national average. In reality, USA Today ranked Arkansas 11th in the nation for personal income growth during the recession. Amidst the worst national economy since the Great Depression, Arkansas steadily moved up three rankings in the national average for median income at a time when other states where falling. Although 44th is no resting place, it is the highest the state has ever ranked for median income and Arkansas has secured that position consistently in 2009 and 2010. The latest numbers from 2010 put Arkansas at 82 percent of the national average for per capita income, a 2.2 increase from 2009. (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 9/22/11; Bureau of Business and Economic Research, UNM, 9/22/11; USA Today, 9/21/10).
Moreover, the Arkansas growth rate over the past 10 years has outpaced the national average growth rate. Specifically, from 2006-2010, Arkansas’ per capita income rose steadily from 78% of the national average to 82% (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 9/22/11)
“If Charlie Collins claims he wasn’t lying and just ignorant of the economic facts, that is pretty scary for a member of Revenue and Tax Committee. Can we assume he’s paying more attention to the numbers there?” Martin asked.
BACKGROUND
State at disadvantage
Thanks for your editorial calling out the disadvantage our income tax places on Arkansas workers compared with workers in nearby states. Why is there outrage when China creates a disadvantage for our workers through tax and currency policy, but not when we do it to ourselves? We’re regularly ranked near the bottom of all states for median income. We haven’t made substantial progress in decades. It wasn’t always this way. From about 1940 to the early 1970s, Arkansas improved from about 44 percent of national median income to about 75 percent.
Then we raised our income-tax rates in 1971 (with the top rate up 40 percent from 5 percent to 7 percent) and relative income-growth progress stopped. Today, Arkansas median income remains around 75 percent of national income almost four decades after the higher income-tax rates took effect. If we had left tax rates alone in 1971 and remained on the pre-tax-rise trend, the Arkansas Policy Foundation found that Arkansas median incomes would be at or above the national average by now.
The editorial highlighted two income-tax ideas to create jobs: A special deal for new residents only, and bigger exemptions for capital. How about this instead? Let’s simplify the code and give all our workers a fair playing field by eliminating the 2.5 percent and 7 percent rates. This approach lowers the rate by 60 percent on low-income workers and 14 percent on workers making more than $33,000. We won’t need to say “Thank God for Mississippi” anymore.
CHARLIE COLLINS, Fayetteville
[Letter to the Editor, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/5/2012]
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