LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers gave initial approval Monday to a plan to cut the state’s individual and corporate income taxes by $124 million a year.
The majority-Republican Senate approved the measure — backed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders — to cut the state’s top individual income tax rate from 4.9% to 4.7%. The legislation, which Sanders and legislative leaders unveiled last week, also would cut the top corporate income tax rate from 5.3% to 5.1%.
The legislation passed on a 30-0 vote, with four Democratic lawmakers voting present. The bill now heads to the majority-Republican House.
State finance officials said that under the proposal, 1.1 million taxpayers who make more than $24,300 a year would receive a cut.
Sanders, who took office in January, has called for phasing out the state’s income tax. Over the past several years, Sanders’ Republican predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and the majority-GOP Legislature enacted a series of cuts.
The tax cut would cost $186 million in its first year because it will take effect this year, the Department of Finance and Administration said.
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