LITTLE ROCK, AR (KATV) — Pete Buttigieg, the former U.S. secretary of transportation and former mayor of South Bend, announced today that he is endorsing Dr. Chris Jones to represent Arkansas’s Second Congressional District in Congress.

Buttigieg is scheduled to travel to Little Rock on Friday, June 19, to campaign alongside Jones.

“I’m honored to have Pete Buttigieg’s endorsement and excited to welcome him to Little Rock,” Jones said.

Chris Jones kicks off 2nd Congressional district campaign with town hall & block party

“Pete is one of the strongest messengers in the country because he keeps the focus where it belongs: on the kitchen table issues shaping people’s lives, from the price of gas and groceries to the cost of housing and health care. Those are the same issues I hear about every day from families across Arkansas’s Second Congressional District. Pete understands what is at stake in this race for Arkansas families who deserve better representation and for the direction of our country. I’m proud to have him standing with us.”

Buttigieg said Jones is the kind of candidate he wants to support.

“Chris Jones is a leader rooted in his community, with a vision for building prosperity in Arkansas brick by brick,” Buttigieg said.

“At a time when politics can feel like it’s punching you in the face, Chris is focused on a better future where entrepreneurs thrive, young people can find good-paying jobs, and politicians are held accountable. A scientist, an ordained minister, and someone who knows how to bridge divides, Chris would make an excellent representative in Congress – and I’m proud to join him on the campaign trail.”

While serving as U.S. secretary of transportation, Buttigieg highlighted investments made in airfield safety during the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Investing in America Tour.”

Transportation Sec. Buttigieg highlights investment in airfield safety at Little Rock

A rally is planned in Little Rock in support of Jones’ campaign for Congress. Organizers said the event will take place in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the location and details to be sent 24 hours before the event.

Jones’ campaign notes that he grew up in Pine Bluff, built a career in science and technology, and has spent his life building bridges between rural towns and urban centers.

Now, he’s running for Congress with a spirited desire to make sure every Arkansan has a seat at the table.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT) – Certain Arkansas state employees will soon see a bump in their paychecks.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Friday merit pay increases for employees who met or exceeded expectations over the past year.

Employees who received a 3 on their most recent performance evaluation will receive a 1 percent pay increase, while those who scored a 4 or higher will receive a 3 percent pay increase.

The raises only apply to state employees who have worked in the executive branch for at least a year, and have worked in their current executive department since Jan. 1.

“Rewarding good work goes hand-in-hand with delivering better results for the people of Arkansas,” the governor said. “Over the past year, you have helped my administration deliver truly transformational change for the people of Arkansas, improving services while saving money. I am grateful for your hard work.”

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Florida is discussing a plan to eliminate real property taxes on the first $250,000 of a home’s value and later expand that exemption to $500,000. For millions of Floridians, that would wipe out their property tax bill entirely. For others, it would slash it to a fraction of what they pay now.

Florida’s proposal should force Arkansas to confront a larger truth: We don’t really own our homes. You can pay off your mortgage, maintain the property, and otherwise live within your means, but miss one year of property taxes and the state can take the house you thought is yours. No other asset works this way. If you fully own your car, no one can repossess it because you had a bad year. But a home–the very symbol of stability–remains permanently subject to direct forfeiture. Indeed, even if you go bankrupt, you get to keep your home. But miss one property tax payment, and your house is toast.

And property taxes don’t adjust to income, job loss, medical bills, or retirement. They rise when assessments rise, even if a homeowner’s income doesn’t and expenses do. A person can spend 30 years paying off a house, finally own it free and clear, and still lose it because the tax bill outpaced their paycheck. Ugh.

Even worse, while Florida is debating whether homeowners should pay any property tax at all on a typical middle-class home, Arkansas is still taxing people for the privilege of owning the car they need to get to work.

To be fair, Arkansas has made real progress on tax reform. The state has cut income taxes repeatedly and responsibly. Arkansas moved from a top marginal rate above 7 percent to about half. That is not tinkering around the edges; it is a major structural shift that puts more money in the pockets of working families and makes the state more competitive. And Arkansas did it without blowing a hole in the budget.

But that makes the next question unavoidable: If Arkansas can responsibly cut income taxes, why are we still paying the infamous car tax, a relic of the Bill Clinton era?

The car tax survives for one reason: inertia. It began as just another effort to hide how much we are taxed by making it less obvious that the state was again adding to our burdens.

A tax that hits people in small, scattered amounts is easier for politicians to defend than a tax that shows up clearly on a bi-weekly paycheck. Income taxes are visible. But a tax tied to a car registration is easier to disguise. It doesn’t feel like a tax. It feels like paperwork.

The car tax has lasted so long not because it’s fair or efficient. It’s longevity results from how well it hides the true cost of government. Arkansas does not have to reinvent the wheel. It just has to stop taxing them.

And we haven’t even discussed sales taxes, the quiet pickpocket of state and local government. They take the same bite out of every purchase whether you’re a millionaire or a cashier making $14 an hour. That’s what makes them regressive: The less you earn, the bigger the chunk they take out of your paycheck. A wealthy family barely notices an extra dollar on a loaf of bread. A working family feels it every single week. And because sales taxes hit most necessities, they punish the people who spend the highest share of their income just trying to live.

Like the car tax, politicians love sales taxes, because they’re mostly invisible. They don’t show up on a pay stub or a tax return. They’re at the bottom of that supermarket receipt that you don’t read–quietly siphoning money from the people least able to spare it–with no grand total at the end of the year, like on your paycheck, showing you just how badly you’ve been robbed.

And the irony is that sales taxes hit hardest in the very places where wages are lowest. Rural Arkansans pay more in sales tax as a share of income than folks in Little Rock or Fayetteville. Young families starting out pay more. Seniors on fixed incomes pay more. It’s entirely backwards.

Florida is challenging that approach. Arkansas should pay attention.

This is your right to know.

Robert Steinbuch, the Arkansas Bar Foundation Professor at the Bowen Law School, is a Fulbright Scholar and author of the treatise “The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.” His views do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.