Arkansas lawmaker plans to propose sales-tax holiday

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BELLA VISTA — A state legislator says she will renew her effort to convince her colleagues to institute an annual state sales-tax holiday on school supplies and clothing as a way to make it easier on parents to provide their children the basics.

Rep. Donna Hutchinson, R-Bella Vista, tried unsuccessfully last year to get a measure passed. She says she will try again when the Legislature meets in regular session in 2009. The holiday could be a day or days before the start of school each fall.

Of the six states bordering Arkansas, five have a school tax-free holiday, Hutchinson says. The state and county and city governments in Arkansas lose tax money as parents cross the state lines and shop for the best bargains, Hutchinson has argued.

The proposed tax would have to apply statewide because an exemption for border towns is not permissible under an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling.

Hutchinson says she hopes that passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to allow the state to budget for a year instead of two years at a time, will make legislators more receptive to the idea of a tax holiday.

She said lawmakers were split last year on making additional cuts to the state sales tax on groceries, and may be attracted to the tax-holiday proposal as a compromise.

But another northwest Arkansas legislator, Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, says he would not support a sales-tax holiday.

"I'm not interested in it. I think you need to spend what you need to spend and spend it responsibly, and you'll need to tax only what you have to have to meet those needs. That's where I want to concentrate my efforts," Hendren said.

For more information see Monday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.