Seal of Arkansas Arkansas

Arkansas has one of the oldest constitutional tax and expenditures limits in the country, enacted by legislative referendum in 1934. The TEL is covered in the Arkansas State Constitution Article 5 Sections 38 and 39. The limit only covers tax revenues, but the legislature can create new forms taxes not limited by the TEL. The TEL can be overridden by voter approval.

 
The base year represents the year the hypothetical Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) would have been enacted. Selecting a base year changes how the state’s TABOR is calculated because the annual growth rates of inflation and population change depending on when TABOR is enacted.
  • Year Inflation-adjusted Actual Spending
    1992 7,682,870,487
    1993 7,964,066,190
    1994 8,414,049,437
    1995 8,953,725,384
    1996 9,469,195,184
    1997 10,249,315,510
    1998 11,087,853,690
    1999 12,010,795,980
    2000 11,920,726,840
    2001 12,329,753,170
    2002 13,094,836,360
    2003 13,160,513,500
    2004 13,721,806,380
    2005 14,200,230,310
    2006 14,705,969,250
    2007 15,434,071,370
    2008 15,737,450,450
    2009 16,662,325,340
    2010 16,702,467,740
    2011 16,915,556,760
    2012 17,688,567,060
    2013 18,632,594,460
    2014 19,427,924,040
    2015 19,928,489,480
    2016 19,622,414,790
    2017 20,084,590,860
    2018 19,994,589,850
    2019 20,130,508,770
    2020 20,267,405,540
    2021 19,936,724,560
    2022 19,794,000,000
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars.