SECRETARY DANIELS ANNOUNCES $12.5 MILLION TO GO TO STATE’S EDUCATIONAL ADEQUACY TRUST FUND
Friday, Jul 6, 2007
Contact: Natasha Naragon
(501) 683-1441
(LITTLE ROCK, ARK.) - Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels today announced that over $12.5 million has been collected in corporate franchise taxes to be used by the state to ensure educational adequacy for all Arkansas students. The total amount of franchise taxes collected for fiscal year 2007 by the Secretary of State’s Business and Commercial Services (BCS) division is over $20.5 million, a record amount.
Every business entity, whether domestic or foreign, pays an annual fee to do business in Arkansas. Around eighty percent of the state’s corporations pay the minimum franchise tax rate of $150. The taxes are payable between January and May 1st annually. BCS processed a record number of taxes by the conclusion of the fiscal year on June 30th, which is earlier than any previous year because of expedited collecting and processing procedures.
“I’m so proud of the hard work and innovative methods of our folks in the Business and Commercial Services office,” said Secretary Daniels. “Every year we are making it easier for businesses to file their franchise taxes while simultaneously improving the efficiency with which we process them.”
Act 94 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003 increased the franchise tax rates and required all funds collected over $8 million to be deposited into an Educational Adequacy Trust Fund. The funds are then made available to the Department of Education’s Public School Fund Account for the use of ensuring that all the state’s citizens have an equal opportunity to access an adequate education. The FY 2007 amount of $12.5 million for educational adequacy is an increase of $1.5 million over FY 2005 and FY 2006. The first $8 million collected goes into the state’s General Revenue fund.
For more information on the process of filing franchise taxes, visit the Secretary of State’s website ate www.sos.arkansas.gov or call BCS at 501-682-3409.
