Letters

Pay off the debt first

The state of Arkansas has in recent memory run budget surpluses.

I have heard many people say that we should be reducing taxes. I agree, but feel that an intermediate step should be done before we cut taxes: We should pay off our state's debt in full. As our state has $12 billion in debt according to the Reason Foundation, we may need to raise taxes for the foreseeable future to repay in a reasonable time frame, but considering that interest rates are rising and will do so for the next century, our state would be well prepared not having to pay interest on debt that already at current rates cost around $1 billion a year and is likely to hit twice that even if our debt load remains the same.

Once our state carries no debt, only then we should consider lowering taxe