Arkansas receives low marks for taxpayer return on investment

(The Center Square) – Arkansas was one of the worst states for taxpayer return on investment, according to a new report.

Personal finance website WalletHub developed the ranking based on the contrast between how much taxpayers pay in state and local taxes and the quality of services they receive. Services that were evaluated included education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution.

Arkansas placed in the bottom 10, ranking 45th behind New York, California, North Dakota, New Mexico and Hawaii.

Arkansas was among the five states with the highest violent crime rate. It ranked 36th for its economy and 39th for health. It had a mid-range score for its education system, coming in at 28th. However, the state did score well for its infrastructure and pollution, ranking 12th.

The state’s struggle with crime was partially addressed in the $6 billion state budget Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed at the beginning of the month. It included $150 million in allocations for one-time funds toward various projects, including plans to build a new prison. Once completed, the prison would house an additional 498 inmates and is expected to cost about $75 million to construct.

The governor’s proposal to build more prison space was met with criticism from some lawmakers and residents.

“We cannot build our way out of this problem,” Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, said at the time.

Tucker said the state’s prison population was growing at four times the rate of the state population and called for policy solutions to address current laws that may be exacerbating the problem.

“Let’s sit down and really work on this. We’re just kicking the can down the road,” Tucker said.

The WalletHub report addressed the correlation between higher taxes and better government services and questioned whether low tax states were simply more efficient with their spending.

Arkansas ranked 36th for the total amount of taxes paid per capita.

“Americans have looked at taxes with especially high scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report’s authors wrote. “In fact, 81% of people think the government doesn’t spend their tax dollars wisely, according to WalletHub’s Taxpayer Survey. We do know, however, that taxpayer return on investment, or ROI, varies based where one lives. Federal income-tax rates are uniform across the nation, yet some states receive far more federal funding than others. Different states have also received vastly different amounts of COVID-19 aid.”

Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square