Give us a break

Actually, give it to the unemployed

You see? It’s not all “Stand Your Ground” and getting rid of grades for schools. Sometimes the need is there, the votes are there, and the Legislature is there to do important work.

—our editorial, Friday

AT THIS rate, we’re going to be embarrassed about praising the Arkansas General Assembly. There are enough head-scratchers to keep us in print for a while, certainly—but there are also enough applause-worthy bills to keep us talking and writing, too. For another example, we have to admit, is Senate Bill 236 by Jonathan Dismang.

This bill would exempt federal and state unemployment benefits from state income taxes in 2020 and 2021.

Remember back just one year: Arkansas unemployment rate was the envy of the nation, or at least most of the nation. Our unemployment rate held steady between 3 and 4 percent. That’s what economists called “frictional unemployment,” because such a low number can be explained away by people moving to another town or changing jobs voluntarily or maybe taking a break to have a child. Then . . . .

Well, Michael Wickline put it best in his story: “The first official covid-19 case was identified March 11. In April, the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent as nearly 100,000 Arkansans lost their jobs as businesses shut down or laid off workers.”

Yes, things went downhill just that quick.

“None of us expected this pandemic,” Sen. Dismang said. “Our employers didn’t expect the layoffs. They didn’t expect the shutdown and, in turn, those same employees never anticipated that they would have to rely on unemployment insurance.”

And, it turns out, the state has no mechanism in place to collect taxes on those benefits as they are issued. And Sen. Dismang noted that folks who are unemployed, or have been, will have the added hassle of having to come up with those taxes on April 15. If it’s not one thing . . .

The state Department of Finance and Administration says the bill would reduce general revenue for the state “somewhere less than $51 million,” according to officials.

But in Wednesday’s paper, in the Arkansas section, another story by Michael Wickline (he stays busy) said that individual income tax collections have been rising. In fact, the state’s general revenue collections went up more than 10 percent in January, compared to the same month last year. Which is an increase of $68 million-plus. The governor noted that seven months into the fiscal year, “our surplus over forecast is over $400 million.”

The state of Arkansas—that is, all of us—can afford to give a tax break to those who’ve had a harder year than the rest of us. We can certainly ease their pain this April 15th and the next April 15th. And the Ledge, we’re proud to say, seems intent on doing just that.