LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. -- Arkansas state law is set to change, allowing more tax benefits for service members, veterans, and families of both.
Arkansas joins 28 states that provide full state tax exemptions to military retirees and family members of fallen service members; 19 others provide partial exemptions.
“When you're looking at a 6.9-percent income tax rate, that's a very significant benefit,” said Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. “[Military retirees] will come here to start a second career and will fall in love with the state. That is another incredible incentive.”
Arkansas is a leader in a national effort to reform occupational licensure with an objective to identify and eliminate burdensome barriers to license portability across state lines.
"License reciprocity is a concern for many of our spouses," said Col. Gerald Donohue, 19th Airlift Wing commander. "We don't just bring Airmen into the Air Force - we bring families, and the onus is on us to make sure we take care of them. Keeping an eye on this and other issues that are important to our families is one way of keeping up our end of the deal."
A major focus of the effort has been to address challenges veterans and military families face.
In May, the governor’s office and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission awarded over $700,000 to promote and facilitate a cyber program in local high schools.
In 2015, the state enacted the broadest higher education in-state tuition eligibility in the nation.
In 2013, Arkansas exempted active-duty pay from state taxation – giving active-duty Arkansans a reason to keep their state residency. The state also adopted an occupational licensure statute on behalf of members of the armed forces, veterans and military spouses.
Through that initiative, all members of the armed forces, their spouses and veterans within three years of their discharge and their families are eligible for in-state tuition at Arkansas public higher education institutions – regardless of their official residence.
Combined, these initiatives secure state and community investments made in the education of service members before joining the military, strengthen readiness and recruiting, complement the Department of Defense’s education and training investment, and position the state to attract more military families to discover or return to Arkansas.
Information from a Military Officers Association of America article by Richard Duke