By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas has risen to 46th in per capita personal income for the first time in 50 years, Gov. Mike Beebe said today.

“This is the first time since they’ve been keeping records that we’ve got that many states below us,” Beebe told reports while discussing the state’s rise in per capita personal income from 47th last year.

Also today, the governor the monthly revenue report due Tuesday would show tax collections fell $18 million to $19 million below forecast in October. The drop comes on the heels of lower-than-expected tax collections in recent months that forced the administration to cut $100 million from the current state budget.

Beebe attributed the October drop to lower corporate tax collections was expected and should be made up in later months.

Arkansas’ per capita personal income is $32,397, putting the state ahead of Kentucky, Utah, West Virginia and Mississippi.

Connecticut ranked No. 1 with a per capita personal income of $56,272.

“So, slowly but surely, it’s not fun to be 46th, but it’s so much better than 48th and going in the wrong direction,” the governor said.

Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation, attributed the rise to tax cuts, increased real estate and dividend incomes and a rise in agricultural income.

The Legislature cut the state sales tax on groceries from 3 percent to 2 percent this year, after halving the levy from 6 percent to 3 percent in 2007.

Higher oil and natural gas prices during 2007 and the first half of 2008 led to increased real estate and dividend incomes, likely caused by the expansion of the Fayetteville Shale play in north-central Arkansas, Kaza said.

Agriculture income rose substantially last year, he said.

However, Beebe said the recent heavy rains and bad weather would probably affect the agriculture industry’s harvest this year.

“We’ve got a lot of soybean crop that’s not going to be harvested,” the governor said. “A lot of the cotton crop is in trouble … we’re going to have some problems with rice, too.”

The state’s logging industry also will see some losses because of the heavy rains and flooding, Beebe said.

Regarding the October revenue report, Beebe said it was “down below forecast for the month, but (the drop) was factored and taken into consideration within our forecast.”

The biggest drop, he said was in corporate income taxes, but other sectors also were down.

Beebe decided to cut the budget last month after September revenue collections were $55.8 million below forecast and down $71 million, or 14.8 million, from last year.