Good jobs benefit all

John Brummett recently criticized my focus on turning Arkansas into a Good Jobs Magnet and my “obsession” with cutting income-tax rates to help do it. I passed a bill this year that reduces income taxes by about $55 million per year by 2015, but our rates are still higher than every state that borders us.

The “Rich States, Poor States” study showed that from 2000-2009, incomes, jobs and population in the nine no-income-tax states grew faster than the nine highest-income-tax states. I’ve talked to study co-author Dr. Arthur Laffer, and he supports reducing income taxes in Arkansas to promote economic growth.

Barack Obama’s former chief economic adviser, Christina Romer, studied tax laws enacted during the past 50 years and concluded that each 1 percent increase in taxes could reduce economic output (gross domestic product) by 3 percent, sustained over several years. In other words, tax relief for workers grows the economy by triple the amount of the tax reduction.

State income-tax collections have increased 7 percent per year for decades, about 30 percent faster than Arkansas economic growth, according to a government report presented at the Tax Committee meeting I co-chaired last month. We can cut income taxes if we put the brakes on government growth.

Today, we’re 48th on the medianincome scale. Imagine Arkansas becoming a Good Jobs Magnet and moving up to the middle of the pack and beyond in coming years.

Why not? We deserve the quality of life that more good jobs will create. CHARLIE COLLINS

Fayetteville