Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Remittance Tax topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sen. Garner’s proposed fee on some international money transfers draws sharp opposition in Revenue & Tax hearing
Summary
Senate Bill 545 would charge a $5 fee plus a 1% surcharge on some international transfers to fund law‑enforcement grants and training. Immigrant advocacy groups, small‑business owners and DFA testified it would burden consumers, complicate compliance and could hinder anti‑money‑laundering efforts; a motion to advance lacked a recorded second.
Senator Jason Garner introduced Senate Bill 545, a proposal to impose a $5 fee on certain electronic transfers sent out of the United States and a 1% add‑on for amounts over $500, saying the revenues would fund grants for law enforcement, training at an elite academy and Arkansas State Police efforts to address illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Garner described the measure bluntly as a new way to collect taxes that are not currently remitted.
Public testimony at the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee hearing was uniformly opposed. Mira (Myra) Yaira, founder and executive director of Arkansas United, said immigrant families, military personnel who use money orders, and small retail outlets that offer remittance services would be hit by the fee and that Oklahoma’s experience showed the measure can impose administrative burdens on corner stores and reduce transparency for anti‑money‑laundering (AML) monitoring. “If we were to put taxes on these transfers and money orders, we would be forcing many of these groups to go underground,” Yaira said, arguing that would make it harder for law enforcement to monitor transactions.
Joshua Ong Price, president and co‑founder of the Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus, told the committee the fee would be ‘‘another tax on top of another tax’’ for immigrant households and businesses and said Arkansas’s Asian American residents and visitors contribute significantly to the state economy. Sonia Gutierrez, a Fayetteville business owner and city council member, said the fee would unnecessarily burden small businesses and veterans and said the bill would create an unwelcoming environment for immigrant communities.
Paul Gehring of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) summarized DFA’s fiscal assessment and highlighted an important drafting ambiguity: the bill’s 1% surcharge might apply either to the portion of a transfer above $500 or to the entire transfer when it exceeds $500. DFA provided a range of projected revenue depending on that interpretation and offered to supply the committee the fiscal note.
After questions and closing remarks from the sponsor, a committee member moved that the bill “do pass.” The motion did not receive a recorded second and the chair proceeded to the next item without a committee vote. The transcript records that the committee proceeded without taking a final vote on SB545.
What happens next: The committee did not advance SB545 by recorded vote at this hearing. Further action would require a properly seconded motion and a recorded vote in a future meeting or placement on an upcoming calendar.
