Arkansas is one of only 11 states that continue to levy a state income tax on working poor families that earn below the poverty level, which was $17,102 in 2009.
Due to an error in the state tax code, a Head of Household with two dependents was paying a higher income tax rate that married couples with two dependents. That means that a single Mom with two children would have had to pay a higher state income tax in 2009. We had the third highest rate in the Nation -- only Hawaii and Alabama citizens pay more.
That's just not right. So I wrote and passed a tax reform bill to provide fairness and equity for some 50,000 Arkansas families led by single parents.