Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Franklin says Amendment 3 would be bad for Gurdon

On November 5 every Arkansan who is a registered voter will have the opportunity to go to the polls and vote for what they believe in.

Not only will they be voting for city, county and state officials, but they will be voting for or against certain amendments.

One amendment voters will see with the Amendment 3 to abolish the food tax.

Many are probably excited to hear of a possible tax break. However, it isn't exactly what it seems.

Amendment 3 will not abolish all taxes on food and medicine.

No one can give a clear answer to this. The definition between medicine and food is hard to determine what will be done away with and what won't.

This amendment will not include any other replacement revenue, which means, once gone, it's gone.

When asked about his thoughts on the proposed amendment, Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin said, "All cities, and counties in Arkansas will loose a total of $435 million from the food tax. This is a regressive tax. If you look at it from one way it is a bad tax because it staples something that people have to have, food. Therefore the tax indirectly hurts the poor and the elderly. We don't like to look at it like that, but that is how it is."

Franklin went on to say, "If this amendment passes we will be looking at one of two things. Either a new tax on something else or losing much of the city's revenue will cause for us to stop some services."

In a booklet printed by APPLES, which is an acronym for Arkansas to Protect Police, Libraries, Education and Services, it states schools statewide will receive $117.6 million less  the average loss per elementary school would be $105,205.

Community colleges will lose an additional $2.9 million from sales taxes passed by local communities to support operations of the schools.

Arkansas Children's Hospital, one of the best facilities in the nation, could lose $6 million.

Promotions of tourism and convention businesses will lose a total of $16 million.

Higher education will lose at least $38.6 million or more.

The amendment will affect the whole state. Especially a town as small as Gurdon.

If the funding is not there then Gurdon could see a loss of teachers, schools wouldn't be able to afford new materials, the city could be forced to close such things as the senior center or the police department.

Cities are not required to have police protection, law enforcement, however, is the county's responsibility.

In the APPLES booklet it asks, "Would Amendment 3 help lower-income individuals or families?"

It answers with, "No, they might gain from not paying taxes on food, but in turn they could lose thousands of dollars worth of services. Many local governments abolished specific fees and lowered property taxes in exchange for voter approval of local sales taxes. In all likelihood, these fees and taxes would have been reinstated. If lawmakers increase the sales tax on other items to make-up the lost revenue, those least able to pay increased sales taxes will be hurt the most."

Arkansas neighboring stated such as Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana all have a tax on food. The only neighboring state not having a food tax is Texas. However, Texas makes up the revenue on oil entities.

Franklin said, "I feel there are other ways to handle this without taking away the food tax. One suggestion I would have is the cut on certain tax breaks for special interests groups. Arkansas chases after factories and plants giving them a special tax break so they will come to Arkansas. We lose tons of money each year from this. The legislature definitely has to make a major decision. The revenue will have to be made up from somewhere else."