Rep. Della Rosa – Voted for almost every tax increase

In 2019, Representative Jana Della Rosa (Rogers) had a hard time finding a tax she didn’t want to increase. Although she voted for some tax relief legislation, she took it all back and more with her votes for tax increase bills. When you add together her votes for relief bills and tax increase bills the overall increase in the tax burden for Fiscal years 2020 and 2021 are $63.6 million in 2020 and $53.4 million in 2021.

And this huge increase doesn’t even include her vote “FOR” HJR1018 which will put a one-half percent (0.50%) sales tax for highways on your November ballot! Her support of HJR1018 means $293.7 million a year in a sales tax beginning in 2023 unless you vote it down in November. This tax will go into the Arkansas Constitution where it will be nearly impossible to lower or repeal the tax. It takes away tax relief promised beginning in 2023 when a temporary sales tax for highway debt is scheduled to expire.

Combining all Rep. Della Rosa’s 2019 votes for both tax relief and tax increase legislation, her votes amount to about $350 million in taxes.

In 2019 Rep. Della Rosa voted for these taxes:

1. SB576 – A new internet sales tax you pay when you buy goods from out-of-state sellers
2. SB336 – A tax increase on gasoline and diesel fuel
3. HB1737 – A water bill tax
4. HB1564 – A cell phone bill tax
5. HJR1018 – For putting a sales tax on the November ballot.

Representative Jana Della Rosa has two opponents in the March 3 Republican Primary for State Representative District 90. The other candidates are: Chris Latimer and Kendon Underwood.

NOTES: The amount of annual tax collections that would result from the one-half percent (0.50%) sales tax on your November ballot is from the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) Fiscal Impact of HJR1018.

Other tax numbers are from a Bureau of Legislative Research document with corrections based on DFA Fiscal Impact Statements. For a discussion of the BLR document and needed corrections see a previous Conduit For Acton article found here.

The one tax bill Rep. Della Rosa didn’t vote for was HB1565 which added taxes on tobacco products and e-cigarettes and increased the age to buy tobacco products to twenty-one.