Rookie Senator Amber Hulse (R-30/Hot Springs) is proposing Senate Joint Resolution 507 to have voters say this November whether they want to semi-replace property tax on homes by raising the state sales tax to 5%. Rookie Representative and Rhoden appointee Tim Czmowski (R/6-?) offers the Legislature a chance to enact that tax swap itself with House Bill 1308. The problem is that Czmowski’s swap is more of a steal from schools.
Like Senator Hulse, Rep. Czmowski proposes zeroing the property tax levy on owner-occupied single-family dwellings. But while Hulse’s SJR 507 would have to wait for voter approval to raise sales tax from 4.2% to 5.0% on January 1, 2027, Czmowski’s HB 1308 would start raking in additional sales tax this July 1 with a hike to 4.7%, followed by a bump to 5.0% one year later.
Czmowski distinguishes HB 1308 from SJR 507 with a declaration of Legislative intent:
Section 1. It is the intention of the Legislature that the proceeds of the tax rate increases in sections 3 to 18, inclusive, and section 24 of this Act, are used for the following purposes:
(1) State aid to replace property tax revenues forgone from a mill levy of zero applied to owner-occupied single-family dwellings for school district general funds and school district special education funds; and
(2) Ongoing expenditures for the payroll and rate increases of state employees, school employees, and medicaid providers.
It is the intention of the Legislature that these levies for owner-occupied single-family dwellings do not affect the maximum mill levies for the other classifications of real property, and do not adversely affect the total amount of moneys available to school districts through the school district funding formulas for general funds and special education funds [2026 HB 1308, Section 1, as introduced by Rep. Tim Czmowski 2026.02.04].
Legislative intent is not binding: enact either SJR 507 or HB 1308, and future Legislatures could do whatever they want with the additional sales tax revenue. But Czmowski says explicitly that he’s not proposing to make school districts whole after the loss of homeowner property taxes, which provided over 44% of all property tax revenues in 2024. I already figure that the $278 million we’d get from the additional 0.8 percentage points that both proposals eventually set would generate less than two thirds of the revenue schools will lose from eliminating homeowner property taxes. Czmowski intends to divide that smaller pie into smaller slices served out to schools, state employee salaries, and medical providers.
In short, Hulse’s SJR 507 shorts schools, but Czmowski shorts them more, robbing school districts to fund state budget priorities besides education. Public school advocates should rally Tuesday morning to kill HB 1308 in House Taxation, then keep an eye on when SJR 507 makes Senate State Affairs’ agenda to oppose putting that less bad swap before voters.