Reduced grocery taxes the only relief that low-income Arkansas families will get out of 2009 legislature.

LITTLE ROCK – Working single parents in Arkansas may be relieved to hear that their grocery bill will be a bit smaller, but they won’t be getting any relief on the disproportionate amount of state income taxes they’ll be paying on future Tax Days, according to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

The 2009 Arkansas General Assembly failed to correct a 2007 law that exempted most families with children below the poverty line from paying state income taxes. Act 195 of 2007 left out nearly 50,000 single parent families with two or more children, most of whom are working single mothers.

“If there is any group of taxpayers deserving tax relief and economic help, it’s these single mothers,” said Rich Huddleston, AACF executive director. “This group includes workers in the lowest paying jobs, who face the biggest economic challenges meeting the basic needs of their children on limited family incomes, and yet we somehow couldn’t find $3.6 million in a state general revenue budget of more than $4.4 billion.”

A 2008 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington D.C., found that Arkansas had the third highest state income tax burden in the country for single parents with two or more children, behind only Alabama and Hawaii.

The Arkansas House approved Rep. Allen Maxwell’s House Bill 1378 with 98 members voting in favor and two members not voting. The bill had been amended so its impact on the state budget would be delayed until the 2011 fiscal year. Yet the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation failed to move the bill out of committee in the final days of the session.

“Somehow the money was found to cut the energy bills for manufacturers and give a tax break for mini-warehouses,” Huddleston said, “but there was nothing left for our most economically vulnerable group of low-income families.”

Huddleston said he hopes the Legislature will fix the error during the 2010 fiscal session, rather than wait until the 2011 regular session.

Other than the income tax fix, the 2009 session was a good one for children and families, especially considering the economy, Huddleston said. The Legislature was able to extend health insurance to more low-income children and expand funding for substance-abuse treatment for pregnant women and mothers for the first time in 13 years. In addition, several child safety measures were adopted, including important restrictions on teen driving that will help save lives.