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Strengthening Our Communities: Arkansas Ballot Issue 1

Arkansas voters will decide three ballot issues in the upcoming November general election, referred to them by the Arkansas Legislature. The first proposal, Issue 1, is a constitutional amendment that would make permanent a half-cent sales tax that currently funds constructing and maintaining roads across the state. 

Voters in 2012 approved the temporary half-cent sales tax that's set to expire in June 2023. Issue 1 seeks to make that sales tax permanent. If defeated, Arkansas’s state sales tax rate would drop down to 6% when the existing tax expires.

If approved, the sales tax would generate just under $300 million a year, with the revenue continuing to be split among cities, counties and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The state would receive 70% of the revenue and cities and counties would receive 15% each for road and bridge work. 

For more information about this issue and others, visit uaex.edu/ballot.

Kristin Higgins loves to talk about policy and the issues you might find on an Arkansas ballot. Higgins joined the Public Policy Center at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture in 2012 after a decade working as a newspaper reporter covering city hall, county government and crime in Arkansas. That journalism background still influences Higgins philosophy on writing for the public. She likes to translate difficult policy into easier and more understandable terms for the general public. In her time at the Cooperative Extension Service, Higgins has helped transform one of the few Extension ballot issue education programs in the country to reach more people. The Public Policy Center provides Arkansans with neutral information about proposed constitutional amendments and state laws to help them make informed decisions on Election Day. Higgins has a Masters in Agricultural Education and Extension from the University of Arkansas and is president of Arkansas Press Women, a 70-year-old organization supporting professional communicators. Reach out to Kristin at khiggins@uaex.edu or call 501-671-2160.