This morning in the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee we passed HB1204, the Governor's Tobacco Tax. It may come to the floor as soon as tomorrow. There was a big crowd there to watch the proceedings.
I had SB249 in Senate Education this morning as a "Special Order of Business". The legislation would have allowed school districts that fall below the 350 students to have four years to try to get the numbers back up before being forced into administrative consolidation. I had a great team of presenters helping me but.... the Governor, representing him was Ken James from the Education Dept. and a representative from Dustin McDaniel all spoke against the bill. I presented it as important to rural Arkansas and our way of life. We had support in committee but not enough. I will continue to look for ways to support and sustain our rural school districts and communities.
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Thank you for your vote on this tax. While I too am concerned about reducing one tax and increasing another, I feel this is necessary. It may stop many from beginning to smoke and many from continuing to smoke. I wish that the Governor was not so determined to cut the grocery tax, again. It saves the individual such a small amount over the course of a year, and it is really the fairest tax we have. Everyone pays this tax. I am afraid we may have to look at increasing other taxes to make up for the lost revenue.
Thank you again for your service.
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