Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

... I became convinced that the proceedings, or at least this part of them, were prearranged ....

... ThinkTech has fallen victim to a phenomenon that has plagued many nonprofits including the Tax Foundation of Hawaii:  a drop in donor funding ....

... This is an issue here in Hawaii because our individual income tax rates can go up to 11%, second highest in the nation ....

... HB 1675: GET exemption for medical services paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE ....

... some bills replace a current tax rate with a blank.  Or several blanks.  Those are scary because you don’t know what our lawmakers are thinking of putting in there ....

... there are bills advancing that would, if enacted, fundamentally change how Hawaii’s estate tax works ....

... One state made the top five on all lists ....

... Here’s how the strategy works ....

... trampling on taxpayers’ rights ....

... The Counties all oppose this bill ....

... since 2007, not one thin dime has been spent out of the school impact fees collected ....

... the process to separate the wheat from the proverbial chaff has begun ....

... ultra-wealthy oligarchs, bad actors, and others are seeing us—the United States—as a haven where they can park money or assets in entities, like limited liability companies ....

... In the 2023 legislative session, that legislation was amended beyond recognition in both the House and Senate ....

... It isn’t very far into the new year, but already the tax hike proposals have begun ....

... remedy the consequences of some other folks who dropped the ball ....

... A number of restaurants are in a pinch recently.  Here’s what happened to them ....

... Honolulu consumers will be subjected to a double whammy next year ....

... the Department of Education approached the Department of Budget and Finance with a list of about $900 million in projects that it didn’t think it could move before the funding for the project ran out of time ....

 ... The names of the two gorillas are ERS and EUTF ....

... Are we going to put more pressure on our taxpayer base to dig into their pockets ever more deeply? ....

... you as a taxpayer can never really know, but you can protect yourself ....

... Claimants who want a distribution from the fund agree not to sue the fund contributors ....

“... It’s absurd, the socialist mentality, they think they own the land ....”

... Green suspended the General Excise Tax as it related to vendors involved in the design, construction, sale, lease, or financing of housing projects designed to provide rapid relief to the homeless ....

... One of the longest running court cases in modern history is Kalima v. State ....

... fat, dumb, and happy ....

... government should not be there to take choices away ....

... Bill 52 provides an initial fine of $25,000, plus $10,000 per day without an upper limit ....

... the costs of corruption, fraud, and related bad behavior ....

... the fund directs the user to a page on ActBlue, a fund-raising platform used by Democrats ....

... there is a darker side ....

... Threats of violence ....

... Legitimate questions now need to be asked about whether the government is going to want to take back some of that Lahaina money in taxes .... 

... On August 18, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service announced “expansive tax relief” for Hawaii wildfire victims ....

... there is a darker side ....

... not all of it has been peachy ....

... They need to spend money.  Quickly ....

... The current DoTax administration has told practitioners that he is more open to settling cases to whittle down the backlog of tax appeals ....

... In early 2020, when DoE approached Maui County for permits, it said that the design of the pedestrian overpass was already started and projected for it to be built in 2022 and 2023 ....

... Folks on the Neighbor Islands:  Don’t laugh. You might be next! ....

... facilities geniuses at our DOE came up with the idea ....

... At the ceremony, the Governor made clear that tax relief, especially for ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) families, is still on the table.  There will be a Phase 2, he said, apparently targeting the 2024 legislative session ....

... cronyism, revenge and retribution -- someone's been sandbagging ....

... Sometimes it takes a bad situation to make another bad situation better.  This might be one of those times ....

... five blind monks trying to describe an elephant ....

... Apparently Fevella filed a personnel complaint against the head of the Hawaii Film Office, Donne Dawson, to emphasize this point ....

“...ready, fire, aim....”

... One of the bills in this past legislative session that fell to the cutting room floor when it probably shouldn’t have was Senate Bill 1035, which would have exempted medical services provided by health care providers if the services were paid for by Medicaid, Medicare, or TRICARE ....

... The HHRF shut down in 2002.  It's fund still has $186.7M today ....