State Chamber CEO: Arkansas ‘more economically competitive’ than ever

In recent years, Arkansas has become increasingly more economically competitive. Randy Zook, CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Arkansas, said it has a lot to do with growth and tax cuts. Zook was in Jonesboro recently to tout the state’s competitive rise during the chamber’s “2024 Progress and Outlook Tour.”

“Arkansas ranks 15th in terms of economic competitiveness … Arkansas is more economically competitive than we have ever been,” he said.

A number of factors have led to the expansion. The state’s population crested over 3 million a couple of years ago.

According to the Arkansas Competitiveness Redbook, the state’s Gross Domestic Product ballooned from $149 billion to $165 billion last year, an 11% increase. Zook said the side effects of that growth are better jobs and higher wages.

Zook said the Arkansas Legislature has enacted a series of personal and corporate income tax cuts since 2015. The personal tax rate has been dropped to 4.4%, while the corporate tax rate is now 4.8%.

Zook said the tax cuts save residents and businesses a combined $1.271 billion annually. That figure doesn’t include sales tax reductions, savings on unemployment insurance, or special tax rates used by some manufacturing companies in the state.

The reductions have made Arkansas more competitive regionally. For years, adjacent states such as Texas, which doesn’t have a personal income tax, had an advantage. But when you factor in the property tax rates in the Lone Star state and others, the tax burdens endured by residents in Arkansas are now better overall than in most of the states that border the Natural State, he added.

“Lower tax burdens … equals economic growth,” Zook said.

The chamber had a series of polls conducted to determine what voters want public officials to focus on more and what they want them to focus less on. A lot of attention is focused on things such as school choice and climate change, but voters want lawmakers to focus on other issues, Zook said.

The surveys reported that improving roads, childcare, public safety, housing, improved education outcomes, and tax reductions are among the issues that voters want the governor and the legislature to focus on, Zook said.

Zook said there are some problems in the state that need to be addressed. Depopulation in many counties, especially those in the Arkansas Delta, is a significant problem. Other counties, especially in Northwest Arkansas, are growing so rapidly that it has caused a set of different problems that need to be handled, he said.

The lack of housing in parts of the state is an issue, along with a lack of professional workers.

“We are screaming for engineers, accountants, steel workers, carpenters, truckers … etc.,” he said. “There are all kinds of opportunities out there. It’s wide open.”