Arkansas is on a bumpy, but at least downhill, path towards lower poverty rates according to census data released this morning. While still far above national averages, our child poverty rate is down to about 24 percent. It hasn’t...
Families across the nation are doing better, and public programs like SNAP and refundable tax credits continue to play a critical role in those improvements. This morning, data from the 2016 Current Population Survey was released, giving us insight...
Two staff members of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families presented recommendations for a smart budget and a state Earned Income Tax Credit to the Tax Reform and Relief Task Force last week. Executive Director Rich Huddleston discussed the...
Conservative Kansas lawmakers voted to override their governor and increase personal income taxes and taxes on businesses. The Republican-dominated legislature reversed much of Governor Brownback’s infamous tax cut reform package after outrage over how the state couldn’t afford to...
Note: This blog is fifth in a series of posts covering the findings in the 2017 Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book. Although employment is on the rise in Arkansas, a new report released last week by...
The Tax Reform and Relief Task Force met for the second time on Wednesday June 7. Much of the meeting involved necessary housekeeping: explaining the parameters of the task force, including the status of our budget and tax system,...
Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book, a comprehensive, 50-state look at child welfare. This year, Arkansas ranks 47th place in economic well-being, a staggering fall from 36th place last year. We have...
Ranking 47th in the latest national rankings in economic well-being, Arkansas continues to struggle with poverty that affects its children, according to the 2017 KIDS COUNT® Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. More than one...
The American Health Care Act, the health care bill passed by the House of Representatives in May and currently under consideration by the Senate, would shift more than $350 million in yearly costs to Arkansas by 2023, according to...
The federal health bill that the House recently passed, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), would be particularly harmful to Arkansas’s rural communities, according to a new report released today by the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy...