Policy Research

"The most callused aspect of the current education monopoly in Arkansas is that it willingly and deliberately forces children--except those whose parents have wealth--to attend bad schools.” Policy Foundation report,11998   (January 2018) Records show...

"There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth ...Rates on productive behavior should be reduced." “Reduce the state's income tax…repeal the state's capital gains tax.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy...

"(A) stronger FOIA has the potential to save Arkansas taxpayers millions of dollars ... Records we obtained ... show outstanding tax liens .... while taxes are raised and counties aren't fully reimbursed for housing state inmates in...

(December 2017) Arkansas' top income tax rate (6.9%)1 is the second-highest in the 12-state southeast region,2 trailing only South Carolina (7.0%), according to the Federation of State Tax Administrators.3  The organization serves the principal tax collection agencies of...

  (October 2017) The Arkansas Policy Foundation and Reason Foundation cordially invite you to a panel and workshop event, titled “Arkansas School Choice and School Finance in the 21st Century”   The event includes a...

"Define and implement a system of performance-based pay for all state employees." Murphy Commission, "Making Arkansas' State Government Performance Driven and Accountable," September 19981   (September 2017) The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) has advanced a...

  Facilities Partnership funding is distributed in an inefficient manner. Policy Foundation Efficiency Project, Second Report, Recommendation #49, p. 181   (August 2017) Freshman Gov. Asa Hutchinson has asked a state panel to recommend changes...

"Analysis of these themes and issues has led to larger findings related to statewide issues and opportunities, which have been summarized into nine major recommendations." PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Efficiency Review of Arkansas State Government (August 2016)...

(June 2017) Tom Easterly, a Murphy Commission Education Team volunteer who later played a role in a landmark Arkansas State Supreme Court decision has been named the Policy Foundation's 'Unsung Hero' of 2017.   Easterly,...

(July 2017) Management consultants conducted efficiency reviews in Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina this decade, at costs ranging from $2.6-to-$4.2 million.  Volunteers led an earlier Kansas project.  A Policy Foundation review of published reports in these states1 found a...