Taxes

... When it comes to budgets and accounting, politicians have successfully convinced voters that the ordinary rules of fiscal accountability shouldn’t apply to government ....

... A 2012 study at Cornell University found that, when faced with a new soda tax, many households reduced their soda consumption while purchasing an increased amount of beer ....

... Hold on to your wallets, folks, because this year’s great legislative adventure has just begun! ....

... increasing Hawaii's tax burden at a time when its economy is in its worst depression ever ....

... tax-related bills pending at the Legislature, including legalizing gambling, new conveyance taxes, new rental vehicle taxes, new carbon taxes, new proposed constitutional amendment ....

... 23.3% of Hawaii tax collections come from income taxes ....

... General Excise and Use Tax (GET) collections are down by 21.8% from last fiscal year ....

... Hawaii Corporate Income tax tops out at 6.4% .... 

"... At the Legislature, committee hearings have begun in earnest and it doesn’t seem at all like we are in an economic crisis ...."

... It is naturally hard to say no to an ex-tweeker who, at Bishop Estate, achieved the kind of things most Honolulu politicians can only dream of ....

... Ige must sign a bill into law before March in order to prevent automatic assessment increases from being triggered ....

... lawmakers' plans to tax the economy could hurt struggling residents and businesses recovering from the depression ....

... Our unemployment system, as of January 8, 2021, has paid out $3.4 billion in unemployment benefits ....

... new tax bills, sometimes dressed up as “surcharges,” “fees” or “closing loopholes” ....

... 36.7% of State revenue comes from GE Tax ....

... ILWU, Teamsters, IATSE, UFCW ....

... Hawaii's economy is on the ropes right now, but that hasn't stopped some legislators from going all in with new tax-increase proposals ....

... Ige’s Chief of Staff and former Director of Taxation Linda Chu Takayama told the House Finance Committee a little more about the revenue enhancement measures (tax hikes) that the Administration is going to propose ....

... “the carbon tax” is most likely the “barrel tax” ....

... that $2 billion in “savings” is going to end up costing the taxpayers almost four times as much in the long term ....

... There is still a lot of real estate between $0.3 billion and $1.4 billion a year ....

... This week, we got our first real glimpse of Gov. David Ige’s proposed budget. ...

... Barabara Marumoto, architect of the state's legal spending cap, continues to believe Hawaii needs better budgeting practices ....

... if your festivities still include popping a bottle of bubbly, the champagne you toast with will be taxed ....

... Governor being coy in new budget about tax increases totaling $1 billion ....

... Developments during this COVID crisis have brought out tax scofflaws in some of the most unexpected ways ....

... the only two things that are certain in life are debt and taxes ....

... Hawaii ranks 25th ....

... Property owners who wish to dispute their real property assessment may file an appeal during the period of December 15, to January 15, 2021 ....

...“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”....

... In a case called Timbs v. Indiana decided just last year, however, the U.S. Supreme Court made a couple of key points ....

...the looming massive increase in the state’s unemployment insurance tax....

...When businesses across the state are fighting for their lives, the state is about to levy an enormous hike in the unemployment tax.... 

...GET down by 25.1%...TAT down by 92.8%....

...Ranking Individual Income Taxes on the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index....

... Ranking Corporate Income Taxes on the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index ....

...Tax Treatment of Groceries, Candy, and Soda Can Get Tricky....

...we have a state budget hole of more than 2 billion dollars....

... Hawaii has a throwback rule ....

...Hawaii’s general fund spending rose a hefty 5.7 percent in 2020, thus reducing the governor’s score in this report....

... The Auditor was supposed to start on the first chunk last year and finish the report before the start of the 2020 legislature, but ....

...Hawaii and Washington State have the highest estate tax top rates in the nation at 20 percent....

...Almost every state spends more on highways than they collect in dedicated revenue from federal, state, and local sources. The only exceptions are Hawaii, Idaho, and Tennessee....

...Now that the economy is down and tax revenues are in the tank, we are now seeing cases of our Department of Taxation using some particularly nasty provisions in the tax code....

...employers are likely to be hit with a significant and automatic rate increase at the end of this year....

... State and Local taxes add $0.4628 per gallon -- not counting GE Tax .... 

...Tax Foundation of Hawaii, urged the Legislature to adopt key provisions of the CARES Act although it became law in 2020. DoTAX, in testimony, proposed to adopt a few provisions and leave others on the cutting room floor....

...Pass-through businesses, such as sole proprietorships, S corporations, and partnerships, make up a majority of businesses in the United States....

...unemployment insurance and how it is going to fare after the pandemic....

... donning rose-colored glasses and approaching the budget shortfall as a temporary setback ....