Arkansas ends fiscal year with $1.6B budget surplus

Little Rock, Arkansas – Gov. Asa Hutchinson is calling for a special session to determine how to deal with the extra cash, just hours after state officials announced that Arkansas would end the year with a record-breaking surplus.

According to officials from the Department of Finance and Administration, the state ended the July 2021-June 2022 fiscal year with a $1.628 billion surplus.

In a release, Hutchinson credited the record state revenue to “dynamic job creation coming out of the pandemic and increased consumer buying power” in Arkansas.

“June revenue collection was more than $150 million above forecast, leaving a net surplus for the year in excess of $1.6 billion the fiscal year. This represents the largest surplus in Arkansas history and demonstrates the state is collecting too much in tax revenue,” he said in a released statement. “Our collections are above last year, despite the tax reductions enacted last year. This growth is attributable to the state’s dynamic job creation coming out of the pandemic and increased consumer buying power.”

According to the governor, during the week of Monday, August 8 he plans to call for the “Extraordinary Session” of the state General Assembly.

The session would focus on ways to “reduce the rate of our tax collection” in Arkansas but did not announce any specific plans, Hutchinson said. There was also no word from the governor in terms of how the surplus funding could be spent.

“Today, I am announcing I will call a special session of the General Assembly to reduce the rate of our tax collection. The special session will be the week of August 8,” he wrote. “The specific items on the call in addition to tax relief will be announced at a later time as further discussions are held with the General Assembly.”