Ark. GOP gubernatorial candidate Keet calls for cuts in capital gains, income taxes

Ark. gov. candidate: Cut capital, income taxes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet on Tuesday called for phasing out the state’s tax on capital gains and a reduction in Arkansas’ income tax.

Keet, a Little Rock restaurant owner and former state legislator, made his candidacy official by filing paperwork at the state Capitol. Keet had announced Friday that he would run against Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.

Keet announced his run for governor after briefly considering a run for lieutenant governor. Keet said Republicans had asked him to consider running for the state’s top elected office instead.

Keet avoided directly criticizing Beebe, a Democrat who remains popular in the state and who has raised more than $1 million for his re-election bid. Instead, Keet criticized the state’s tax structure, which he says is scaring businesses away from the state.

Keet said he wants to phase out the state’s tax on capital gains, but did not offer a timeline for eliminating it. The Department of Finance and Administration estimated that eliminating the tax would decrease individual income tax collections by $98 million and decrease corporate income tax collections by $18.5 million.

Keet also proposed raising the threshold on the highest income tax bracket in the state but did not offer specifics on how he would do it.

“Our tax structure is obsolete, needs reform, and our taxes are too darn high,” Keet said at a news conference after filing.

Keet said he believed he could beat Beebe and denied he was running just to help Republicans keep their spot on the ballot. Under Arkansas law, a party must receive at least 3 percent of the vote for governor in the last election to have a guaranteed spot on the ballot.

“I’m not in this to get 4 percent,” Keet told reporters. “I’m in this race to win.”

Earlier Tuesday, Beebe said he believed his administration had done a good job in making the state attractive to businesses. Beebe ran on a promise to phase out the state’s sales taxes on groceries, which has been cut from 6 percent to 2 percent since he took office in 2007.

“We’ve done a pretty good job, compared to the rest of the country, in attracting business in the last couple of years,” Beebe said. “You always look at ways to improve things, but you’ve got to balance all of that with the ability to meet your obligations.”

Tuesday marked the second day of the one-week filing period for state and federal office in Arkansas.

The Arkansas secretary of state’s office said that 209 candidates had filed for office by the end of the day Tuesday.

Also filing Tuesday was former state Sen. Tim Wooldridge, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 1st Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Marion Berry announced in January he was retiring and would not seek re-election to the post.

Former Berry Chief of Staff Chad Causey and Mountain Home physician Terry Green filed on Monday to run for the Democratic nomination for the seat. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro is the only Republican who has filed so far.

On the Net:

Additional filings can be found at www.votenaturally.org/electionresults/index.php by selecting “Candidate Information” and “Sort by Position.”