Policy Research

(March 2024) The state of Arkansas has retained management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for a three-year efficiency initiative, according to a recently-announced contract between the two parties. The 128-page $5.5 million services contract includes...

"All post-secondary students enrolled in public, private or for-profit colleges and universities operating in Arkansas are our customers. To successfully serve those students, we also serve colleges and universities, policy makers, and taxpayers." Arkansas Department...

(December 2023) Nearly 115,000 Arkansas students attend charter, home or private schools, or are enrolled in a public school choice program in the current school year, state Department of Education and other records show. "The...

(October 2023) Nearly 5,000 Arkansas K-12 students have taken advantage of the education savings account (ESA) component of the LEARNS Act, according to a Policy Foundation analysis of state Department of Education data. LEARNS is...

"The state's income tax should be reduced … Consider an across-the-board cut, reduce the marginal rates, exempt taxpayers below a certain income level from filing, and expedite the process of indexing for inflation (ImprovingProductivity by...

(July 2023) Arkansans defeated a marijuana legalization measure last November after approving an initiated medical marijuana amendment in 2016. The 2022 proposal would have established a lower tax rate than the 2016 amendment. (1) A...

(July 2023) Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; her predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and state legislators have reduced the income tax rate to 4.7% since 2015. The top state income tax rate was 7.0% a...

(2Q-2023) The average score of Arkansas fourth- and eighth grade students "was not significantly different" from their average score in 1998, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Center is affiliated with the...

(May 2023) States without an income tax recorded higher levels of population growth than the national average and states in local regions, according to decennial U.S. Bureau of the Census data. Regional Population Growth Census...

(May 2023) Policy Foundation research concludes states without an income tax create new private-sector jobs at rates greater than the national average. This observation is demonstrated by calculating growth rates in periods of economic expansion....