Taxes

... Once upon a time there were some property developers on Oahu ....

... In more recent years, the Hawaii Supreme Court has been giving the tax office even more help and protection ....

... ʻĀina kupuna bill to help long-time Maui families keep ancestral lands passes first council reading ....

... The poll of nearly 1,000 Hawaii residents also found significant agreement that private firms should be more involved in delivering public services ....

...A Tax Break for the Rich Could End up Being the Largest Part of the 'Build Back Better' Plan....

... lump-sum entry fees assessed on visitors only are legally problematic in the U.S. as they may be judged to impede travel between states and discriminate against non-residents in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws ....

... the Maui County Transient Accommodations Tax (MCTAT) goes into effect November 1, 2021 ....

... the federal funds made it unnecessary for our legislators to take all of the TAT funds. But they did it anyway ....

... the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement ....

... So now let’s pose a challenge ....

... Hawaii is still in a state of emergency, tourism has slowed, businesses are closing and unemployment is high. The economy will take years to recover ....

... Monthly fees for A+ programming will be increasing from $120 to $200 ....

... How to build affordable housing?  Impose a $1.169 billion tax on housing.  Clue: 'Boondoggle' ....

... A professional poll of almost 1,000 people throughout the islands suggests lawmakers are ignoring what their constituents really want ....

... The memo concludes that the State did not have the power under the Hawaii Constitution to provide for four extra HART board members.  Thus, we can basically ignore the extra folks and conduct business as if they weren’t around ....

“When combined with their share of the state debt, Honolulu taxpayers each owe $61,300.”

... “Growing the Good Life Begins Here” ....

... “Those people have at their disposal so many ways to flummox the tax authorities if they want to. Panamanian bearer shares corporations. Dutch sandwiches. Entities from the Isle of Man, the Caymans, or Bermuda perhaps.” ....

... Another sovereignty scammer busted ....

... I have seen legislature after legislature consider many, many bills to increase taxes ....

... If Congress’s new tax hikes come through, successful residents in high-tax states will be placed in a terrible position. ....

... How does some bureaucrat sitting in the real property tax office have any idea whether a property is vacant? ....

... an increase of up to 2000% ....

... HB 862 makes no provision whatsoever for joint collection. The counties are on their own ....

... Honolulu rail project get a portion of the revenues? ....

... “Yes,” Weinberg said. “You are going to mess up Hawaii’s finances.” ....

... One fundamental assumption that has been made over the years by our lawmakers is that if you enact a tax, money will be raised.  What if that weren’t true? ....

... government not only taxes people by taking their money, but also imposes administrative burdens that waste countless precious hours of people’s time ....

... Hawaii is more than happy to tax the golden goose of tourism. But when it comes to feeding, caring for and cleaning up after it, we can’t seem to get on the same page ....

... The Energy Innovation Act will put a price on so-called carbon pollution and allegedly allocate some of that revenue to Americans as a monthly dividend or “carbon cash back” payment to make you feel better about high fuel and electric costs ....

... allowing the military spouse to keep their home domicile for state income tax purposes ....

... The deadline to apply for the Real Property Tax Credit Program is September 30, 2021 ....

... State lawmakers and DLNR leaders believe the 2021 legislative session was the most productive and effective for natural and cultural resources protection and support of any in recent decades ....

... Does our government overreach?  Yes.  Why does it do that?  Because we let them ....

... If you want to find something that perfectly captures Hawaii’s schizophrenic tourism policy, you couldn’t do much better than House Bill 862 .... 

... HB58 “Enola Gay Frankenbill” really is dead this time ....

... The Senate will reconvene on Thursday, July 8, 2021 at 3:00pm to reconsider a potential veto override of HB53 and vote on proposed floor amendments to meet the Governor’s objections in his veto message for HB54, HB1299 and SB589 ....

... Ige announced that he has vetoed 26 of the 28 bills on his Intent to Veto list ....

... Hopefully, the bad stuff will die and remain dead ....

... Hawaii is 3rd-highest at $0.93 per gallon, just ahead of 4th place Kentucky .... 

... According to the U.S. Travel Association, fourteen state tourism offices are funded either partly or entirely by a statewide lodging tax ....

... Stormwater: $100M Tax Hike After 36 Years of Lawyering and Foot-dragging ....

“...the coronavirus pandemic has challenged the County to make many unprecedented decisions. One such decision was to reduce the Assessed Values of Hotel and Resort properties due to the catastrophic drops in occupancy experienced by that industry....”

... Hawaii wine taxes are 14th highest in USA ....

... Grassroot Institute of Hawaii CEO Keli'i Akina says the list reflects a commendable effort to avoid increasing Hawaii's taxpayer burden ....

... State taxes a major driver of the exodus ....

... Taxing Income in the New World of Teleworking ....

... The Legislature’s decision to strip the county’s share of TAT revenues is certainly a stark change from just a few years ago ....

"...I support HB 862 as it provides the City the option of restoring a revenue base which has been lost – allowing us to continue services to our people...."

...“Landlords are subject to GET on these amounts whether the payments are received from the tenants or directly from the agency that administers the relief program on behalf of the tenant.”  The same reasoning applies to income tax, federal and state....