LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called for a special session designed to enact more tax cuts for residents and provide funding for the state's Game and Fish Commission after legislators failed to approve the budget for it.
Sanders made the announcement on social media, saying she would call the special session in the third week of June with a promise of cutting income taxes by around $500 million and property taxes by nearly $50 million.
According to the governor's office, Sanders wants to decrease individual income tax from 4.4% to 3.9% and the corporate tax rate from 4.8% to 4.3%.
"I'm calling a special session to give Arkansans hurting from Bidenflation income and property tax relief," Sanders claimed in her post. "Democrats in DC are failing, but we are blazing a path to greater prosperity for our people.
In early May, lawmakers ended the fiscal session without providing funding to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC), which controls the state's popular hunting and fishing programs as well as conservation efforts to keep Arkansas's outdoors natural and healthy.
House legislators fell short by 13 votes of the 75 threshold that was needed to approve an appropriation bill for AGFC that would have provided the needed funding before the fiscal year begins on July 1. It was the first time in over 20 years that lawmakers adjourned without signing off on an agency's budget.
It is not clear at this time how Sanders intends to cut taxes, but her plan is expected to be announced in the coming days.
The special session will be held on June 17 at noon.