Tax cut, experience key in state Senate race

In his attempt to beat Sen. Jane English of North Little Rock, Democratic candidate Joe Woodson Jr. is panning the Republican incumbent over her support for legislation exempting capital gains in excess of $10 million from income taxes.

In her re-election bid, English touts her work in representing Senate District 34 and her work to overhaul workforce training in the state.

Senate District 34 generally includes North Little Rock, Sherwood, eastern Maumelle and the Jacksonville area, north of Interstate 40 and west of U.S. 67/167.

English, 75, has served in the Senate since 2013. She is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. She was in the House of Representatives from 2009-13. She was senior project manager for the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission from 1984-99 and director of the state Workforce Development Board from 2001-04.

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Woodson, 49, is an attorney. He worked for the state Board of Apportionment in 2011 when the three-member board redrew the boundaries of legislative districts, and as legal counsel for Democratic Secretary of State Charlie Daniels from 2008-2010.

They are vying for a senator’s job that pays $39,400 a year, plus per diem and mileage for attending legislative meetings. The term is four years. The Arkansas Senate is made up of 24 Republicans and 11 Democrats.

Woodson said voters should cast their ballots for him in the Nov. 8 general election “if they believe what I believe … based on what they learn from this article and my website.”

“I think my opponent believes in a top-down approach [in economic policy] and I believe in a bottom-up approach,” he said. “At all times and in all circumstances, my goal is to tip the scales in favor of the middle class.”

Woodson said English supported Act 1173 of 2015 to exempt capital gains above $10 million from income taxes, and “that is a classic example of the regressive, top-down approach that I oppose.” English was one of 13 Senate Republican co-sponsors of the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, that cleared the Senate in a 24-9 vote, but she didn’t vote on the bill, according to legislative records.

Act 1173 of 2015 restored the 2013 capital-gains tax cuts repealed by the Arkansas General Assembly earlier in the 2015 session as part of Act 22, which also reduced individual income tax rates on Arkansans with taxable income between $21,000 and $75,000. Woodson said he supports this about $100 million reduction in individual income tax rates, for which English voted.

Act 1173 of 2015 exempts capital gains in excess of $10 million from income taxes, if they are realized after Jan. 1, 2014. The law also increased the 40 percent exemption of capital gains from income taxes to 45 percent, effective Feb. 1, 2015, and increased the exemption to 50 percent, starting July 1, 2016. The state Department of Finance and Administration projected the law would reduce state general revenue by $11.8 million in the current fiscal 2017.

English said she supported Act 1173 of 2015 to help entice people to invest in new projects to create jobs in Arkansas.

“I am in the business of helping the state to be more competitive,” she said. She said she didn’t remember why she didn’t vote on the legislation, but “I have always been a supporter of reducing the capital-gains tax.”

“I would like to see a lower corporate income tax. I would like a lower tax for all of the citizens and I think one of the goals we have is to be able to reduce that overall tax rate down, so that we are more competitive with some of our other states that are around us,” English said.

She said voters should cast their ballots for her re-election because she has done “a very good” job and well represented Senate District 34.

She cites her legislation to overhaul the workforce training programs among her accomplishments. She said she wants to push for increased coordination among the programs.

Both Woodson and English said they would work to exempt military retirement benefits from the state’s income taxes to make the state a more attractive place for military retirees.

Woodson said he supports expanding state funding for pre-kindergarten programs to make them available to all children and favors increasing pre-kindergarten funding by $20 million “to start getting caught up” with needed funding for the programs.

“I don’t have any sacred cows with respect to education and I don’t have any objection to charter schools. I think charter schools serve an important demand,” Woodson said. “I don’t have any objection to vouchers. My starting point on education is to make sure those traditional public schools succeed and give all children that are attending a great education.”

English said she supports increased funding for pre-kindergarten programs, “with that caveat that I would like to see a lot more standards.”

“I am not 100 percent convinced that all of the pre-K programs around the state actually meet the education standards, so in some cases I might be willing to think about those pre-K programs being under the Department of Education [rather than the Department of Human Services], so that we know that we have those standards for pre-K programs,” she said.

English said she supports charter schools and school voucher prog rams, and wants to work toward providing high school graduates skills to either get a job or go to college.

Woodson said he supports Arkansas’ version of Medicaid expansion that uses federal Medicaid funds to buy private health insurance for low-income Arkansans. The private option program was authorized by the Republican-controlled Legislature and then-Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, in 2013. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is seeking a federal waiver for the program that he said would encourage recipients to work and have personal responsibility in their use of health insurance.

“In a pragmatic sense, we didn’t really have any choice with all the federal money that is tied to it,” Woodson said. “We’ve got 300,000 people now that needed health insurance, so it’s the right thing to do from a human perspective.”

The state will have to pay 5 percent of the cost of the program starting next year, and its share gradually increases to 10 percent in 2020.

English, who survived a primary challenge from private-option foe Rep. Donnie Copeland, R-North Little Rock, said there is “probably not” a chance that she would vote not to authorize the use of federal and state funds for the Medicaid expansion next year.

“I have to see what it looks like in this next session. I know the governor is working on the waivers,” she said. “My whole goal is to not have so many people on the private option, but to have folks who have the skills and education to be able to get the kind of job where the employers are paying for [health insurance],” English said.

Woodson said he opposes abortion “except for extreme circumstances,” and he doesn’t like to “parrot out” the phrase opposing abortion except to save the life of the mother and in case of rape and incest.

“To me, the starting point is … life begins at conception and abortion is ending a life,” he said. “Under what circumstances should we allow people to do that? I think it can vary from bill to bill or circumstance to circumstance and maybe there are other circumstances where it would be justifiable. But I don’t support it if it is just for birth control,” he said.

English said she opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and in case of incest.

Asked whether she would allow abortion in a case of rape, she said, “That’s a fine line.”

“I am totally against abortion, but I don’t have the total answer, to be honest with you, where I draw the line,” English said.