For Immediate Release Contact: Alex Reed, 501-682-1217
Severance Tax Petitions Short on Signatures
July 19, 2012 – LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin announced that a petition for an initiated act to increase the state’s natural gas severance tax did not have sufficient signatures.
The petition, sponsored by the Committee for a Fair Severance Tax, sought to place on the November General Election ballot an initiated act to increase the tax to 7 percent of the market value.
Canvassers turned in 69,774 signatures. The measure needed 62,507 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot.
“After thorough review of the petitions, we verified that 21,347 signatures were from registered voters,” Martin said.
State law allows the petition’s sponsors 30 days to gather more signatures.
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