Don?t Let Us Down (Editorial)

Listen up, legislators: By rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment that would have exempted groceries and medicines from all sales taxes and an initiated act that would have elevated extreme acts of animal cruelty to felony status, the voters of Arkansas have given you a gift.

You now have the chance to formulate legislation to bring about the worthy goals of these ballot initiatives but without all the troublesome side effects that brought them to defeat.

You can consider some other mechanism for relieving poor Arkansans from the regressive sales tax on groceries without gutting state and local government services. Dr. Harry Ward, who chaired the successful APPLES coalition that pulled of the near-miraculous defeat of Amendment 3, suggests the possibility of a tax rebate, but there may be other methods for achieving the same result. Hop on it.

And even outspoken opponents of the Animal Cruelty Act say they are ready to help write better legislation that would strengthen the laws against malicious cruelty and torture of animals without leaving any doubt that hunting and agriculture practices will be protected.

The significant (albeit insufficient) support that both of these ballot initiatives received proves that Arkansans want to do right by the poor and by our animal friends; we just want to see better vehicles for getting us there. And that, dear lawmakers, is where you come in. You’ve been given a gift. Now don’t let us down.

Thank God for Mississippi — and Arkansas

A report last week said Southerners are tops when it comes to charitable giving.

Although relatively poor, Mississippi and Arkansas lead in the latest “Generosity Index,” a survey that measures the disparity between what residents of each state earn and what they give, by comparing each state’s average adjusted gross income with its average itemized charitable deduction.

In first place is Mississippi, which ranks 49th in adjusted gross income, but sixth in donations.

Arkansas is second in the survey. It’s 45th in adjusted gross income, but ranks seventh in giving, according to the Catalogue for Philanthropy, a Massachusetts group that created the study and encourages giving.

Admittedly, many more Southerners tithe to their churches, but it’s also nice to know that the roots of Southern generosity and hospitality run deep.