![Arkansas cuts income tax rates (again)](https://oklahoma-council.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/assets/blog/Public-Officials/Sarah-Huckabee-Sanders-Capitol.png?w=768&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&dm=1718894328&s=3e94a192a809310b44ee901202d0dd9f)
Budget & Tax
Curtis Shelton | June 20, 2024
Arkansas cuts income tax rates (again)
Curtis Shelton
Nearly a year ago I warned that if Oklahoma doesn’t get moving on income tax cuts it would be left behind. The year 2024 arrived with 14 states having a cut to their personal income tax rate take effect.
Three of these states—North Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas—previously had a higher rate than Oklahoma and have now moved to a lower rate. Missouri is right behind, having gone from 4.95 percent to 4.8 percent.
While Arkansas cut its rate from 4.9 to 4.4 percent, that still wasn’t good enough for Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Yesterday she signed legislation cutting the rate to 3.9 percent, retroactively, beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
Oklahoma, meanwhile, chose massive government spending hikes in 2024 (“We overspent again,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said) instead of income-tax reduction.
The question used to be what can Oklahoma do to stay in front? Now the question is: What do we need to do to keep up?
![Curtis Shelton Policy Research Fellow](https://oklahoma-council.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/assets/img/Author-Headshots-05.png?w=300&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&dm=1644340332&s=a0f0516e63bcbb8de1a24f464187e9c4)
Curtis Shelton
Policy Research Fellow
Curtis Shelton currently serves as a policy research fellow for OCPA with a focus on fiscal policy. Curtis graduated Oklahoma State University in 2016 with a Bachelors of Arts in Finance. Previously, he served as a summer intern at OCPA and spent time as a staff accountant for Sutherland Global Services.