Taking issue with Issue 1

Dear editor:

Do you remember that a vote was held in 2012 that passed a “temporary” 0.5% additional sales tax for roads in Arkansas? We were told that, if this passed, the acceptance of the temporary pain from this tax would provide the funds needed for numerous specific road improvements such as the

70 east improvements and the long-awaited extension of the King Expressway toward Hot Springs Village. Best thing about it was the assurance that this would be a temporary tax, lasting no more than 10 years.

Well, it passed and the tax can finally expire in June 2023. Although more than two years away from expiring, some of the same proponents that assured us the tax would only be temporary want us to vote for Issue 1 on our upcoming ballot. If passed, Issue 1 would extend the temporary

0.5% addition; not a couple more years, not another 10 years, but it would become another permanent tax.

Now some proponents are claiming that passing Issue 1 won’t raise taxes and/ or would not be a new tax. What if you had a 10-year mortgage that was getting close to being paid off and someone told you they think it would be a great idea for you to continue paying the same monthly amount permanently? Would you feel like that is not costing you more? Maybe they could try the same line of reasoning with an inmate that had agreed to serve a 10-year sentence in a plea bargain. Seven years in they could suggest extending the sentence duration to life. They could assure the prisoner by explaining that no new charges are being levied against them, and yet the prisoner might still feel they are being asked to pay more.

Is it just me, or does this seem like we are being asked to pay more? Increasing the duration from 10 to 20 years would be doubling. Increasing from 10 years to permanent is a much bigger increase than that.

Let’s keep this temporary tax a temporary tax and for once let a temporary tax actually be what it’s proponents claimed it would be. To make it temporary we must first vote against Issue 1. No doubt since there is still more than two years remaining on the original temporary tax, we need to be ready to vote against extending this tax on future ballots.

Ron Kew Hot Springs