Rob Moritz at Stephens Media rounds up the wealth of local tax increase proposals developing around the state as the state prepares for statewide ballot issues to raise the diesel tax and sales tax to pay for highway repair and construction. .
Voters are often pretty discerning about differentiation on tax increases. But if the reflexiveness evident in 2010 partisan voting and some legislative issues continues, there could be trouble all around. That is, it’s trouble, if you think critical services are being starved. That’s certainly true, for example, in Little Rock, where there will likely be a vote on a penny sales tax. I don’t think you could find a signifcant percentage that would say the city is overfinanced. But that’s not the same thing as finding a majority that will trust this group of city leaders with more money. That $200,000 giveaway to the anti-labor Chamber of Commerce looms large symbolically.