Background:
- Arkansas is collecting far more in taxes than necessary to fund the state government. Our state has amassed an estimated 1.5 Billion dollars in surplus this year alone, with state revenue up 8.5% over last year.
- Asa Hutchinson would like to use this money to drastically increase public school teacher salaries without regard to other school employees or how the raise would be funded in future years.
- While a teacher pay raise is certainly a noble idea, that leaves out the majority of taxpayers, all of whom are overtaxed. This plan grows government at a time when we should be reducing the size of state government, not expanding it.
- This money doesn’t belong to Asa Hutchinson or the legislature. It belongs to the taxpayers of Arkansas, from whom it was taken.
- A better, fairer plan would be to accelerate the income tax cuts that were already approved by the legislature. The tax cuts should be ramped up dramatically to return this excess money that has been unnecessarily taken from the hardworking Arkansas taxpayers.
Action:
- Strongly recommend to your state legislators that they: (1) deny Asa’s plan for teacher pay raises, and instead (2) return the money to the taxpayers by accelerating the income tax cuts. This would result in a more equitable use of the surplus.
- Contact both your state senator and state representative. If you have time, contact all Republican senators. Here is their contact info: https://reopenarkansas.org/contact-lists/
Timeline:
- We recommend that you contact your legislators as soon as possible, but no later than Friday, July 1st.
Are we asking them to deny teachers a pay increase? Or are we just reminding them that the money wasn’t collected from taxpayers for this purpose and should therefore be returned? And if the latter, don’t we want them to be looking for additional classroom funding so teacher net income isn’t being spent to fund their teaching activities? Just looking for some clarification on the nuances here.
NO! We are not saying teachers don’t need a pay raise. But it isn’t fair to single out teachers and not return the surplus equitably to the rest of the state. What about private school teachers? What about private sector employees? What about literally everyone else in the state? The 1.5 Billion was taken from the entire state, not just teachers. Their raises can be addressed in a separate bill.
In addition, teachers would also benefit from accelerating the income tax cuts.
Yes, anyone paying taxes would benefit. It’s a much more equitable solution.
Thanks. That’s what I was trying to clarify.
Income tax cuts would feel like a raise to everyone!
The surplus money should be returned to the taxpayers. Yes teachers need and deserve a huge pay raise but it should not come from this money. This money belongs back to the people.