Arkansas Revenue & Tax committee reviews agency reporting rules, directs staff to draft targeted repeals

The Arkansas Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation met to review a slate of statutorily required agency reports and agreed to seek repeal of several reports it deemed redundant while retaining those tied to economic incentives and public oversight.

Committee members said the exercise aims to reduce unnecessary paperwork while preserving transparency for incentive programs. Senator Hester, who led the meeting, directed staff to work with agencies and prepare repeal language for specified reports and to arrange sponsors for the bills.

The committee discussed reports submitted by the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Tax Appeals Commission. Mark Konon, president of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, described the bond-issue fact sheet as a “simple report” that lists basic offering details such as the name, coupon and size of each bond issue and said the documents produced for public finance offerings (including TEFRA hearings and official statements published on EMMA) provide fuller information than the fact sheet. Konon said the ADFA rarely receives questions about the fact sheet and that the report provides only “the very bare bones of the transaction.”

ADFA staff recommended eliminating the bond-issue fact sheet and the committee directed bureau staff to prepare draft repeal language for that and other ADFA reports that the authority identified as low value. The committee also heard from ADFA about its capital access program report — a…