Rep. Stephen Magie of Conway today introduced legislation to repeal former Rep. Micah Neal's 2015 bill that exempted restaurant and hotel sales tax records from the state Freedom of Information Act.
We’ve entered the WTF portion of bill filing. Here’s a strange one: a bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Davis to exempt baked goods sold for “off-premises consumption" from being subject to the A&P tax (the hamburger tax). It passed out of Revenue and Tax yesterday. Huh?
The House voted 70-4 to close records of individual tax payments by restaurants under local advertising and promotion (so-called hamburer) taxes. Republican Rep. Micah Neal, who owns a Springdale restaurant, said it was easy to calculate a restaurant's gross receipts from the reports and the information should be sealed. Gross collections would still be reported.
I shared yesterday restaurateur Mark Abernathy's critique of a plan for the Little Rock Board of Directors to vote next week on calling a bond issue election to pledge the two-cent hospitality tax to paying up to $73 million for a much-needed renovation of Robinson Center, the WPA-era auditorium/music hall that has been our small theater/performing arts space since forever.
Restaurant owner/chef Mark Abernathy (Loca Luna, Red Door) is up in arms about the proposal pending before the Little Rock City Board of Directors to call an election on issuing $73 million in bonds to pay for a renovation of Robinson Center.
An official opinion today from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says in response to a question from Sen. Jeremy Young Hutchinson that it's most likely illegal or unconstitutional for Benton to take Advertising and Promotion Commission hamburger tax money to spend on economic development.
Roby Brock at Talk Business reports on legislation by Republican Sens. Johnny Key and Jonathan Dismang to cripple advertising and promotion commissions by requiring popular votes on all hamburger taxes and reapproval of such taxes every four years.
Corporate Arkansas, through its lobbyists at the chambers of commerce, just can't stop grabbing at tax dollars (even as they preach at the rest of us about the beauties of the free market).