Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

...our state government paid half a million dollars in pension payments to people who were already dead. Well, then, what do you think of budgeting many times that amount for people who don’t even exist?....

On December 13, 2016, Governor Ige signed off on, and thereby finalized, significant increases in fees charged by the Department of Transportation Harbors Division....

... legislators are considering a special, higher GET rate for marijuana, but haven’t decided upon that rate yet ....

...the Ige Administration has been meeting with the unions....

Earlier this year, our lawmakers passed Act 25. It bans smoking on the premises of our state-owned hospitals....

People get viscerally upset when you tell them they need to follow a rule they didn't know and couldn't have known....

If Dot Foods loses, none of us is safe....

Coordinated action is not what our government normally does....

...financially “dead” but are somehow shambling on....

The result of the general election earlier this month raises the possibility of a high magnitude shake-up in our federal tax system....

...the classification ran afoul of three protections that the U.S. Constitution, and, to some extent, the Hawaii Constitution, provide under the Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause....

For a very long time, states have been wrestling with the problem of how much to tax entities operating in more than one state....

In 2016, Hawaii ranked 40th among the states with an OPEB funding ratio of 29.2 percent....

...the tax credit program boosted California’s economy only minimally, if at all....

In March, the Honolulu Zoo was denied re-accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) for the first time in its 100-year history....

One year ago, DHHL was sitting on about $55 million in federal funds unspent, as a result of which HUD stopped providing additional funding....

...a $4 million federal grant to come up with a “reimagining” of the taxes we currently pay....

...Apple owed Ireland 13 billion euros....

In Hawaii, we have a beast called a Taxation Board of Review that is quickly following the dodo bird down the path to extinction....

It seems that 15%-20% of our surcharge is being paid by “tourists” in the strict sense, but when you include military families and the federal government you do come up with a percentage closer to a third....

Divide $200 million by 1 million people, and you get $200 a year per person....

...it is very tempting when lawmakers find a large cache of unused money....

...it’s daunting to add up the numbers that are being bandied about....

...what happens if a benefit plan does get disqualified? According to the IRS’ website, there are potentially severe consequences to the employer, the employees, and the plan itself....

The special treatment applies only to subcontractors....

...a tax bill that tries to reverse progress made toward fairness and taxpayer rights....

...the Code doesn’t require an earmarked tax before an agency can commit....

...it looks bad for individual council members to secure money for such organizations....

...the Department has been raking in the retail rate GET from both the charities and the catering providers....

Someone needs to take remedial action before the thermonuclear bomb hits....

Many agencies relish the ability to spend public money with little or no accountability....

...making the shipping more expensive and thereby directly adding to the cost of living....

"All patients of all ages will be negatively impacted by service cuts, so please support privatization.”

A U.S. Supreme Court case decided in April shows us the extent to which some tax agencies will go in order to enforce their laws....

Every day, ten men go out for dinner....

If this credit does indeed become law, expect to see a lot of begging and pleading....

Forced exactions to fund our government don’t always come from taxing agencies....

Today we are looking at a bill in our Legislature that contains nothing....

Renewable fuel proponents took another shot this year at enacting a renewable fuels credit....

On Friday, April 1, April Fool’s Day, a respectable delegation of county politicians gathered in the House Finance Committee hearing room....

December 31, 2015 not only marked the end of the top Hawaii individual income tax rates, but also of some fuel tax provisions....

One of the more interesting bills still alive and being considered this session, is one that would commission a study on the effects of Hawaii’s low real property taxes....

...it seems a bit much to ask the brokers to be policemen for the counties ....

"Judge Nacino’s ruling doesn’t say that no problem exists, but just says that his court isn’t the one that can fix it”

...the Department of Taxation and its customer service, or lack thereof....

...the lowest 20% of our population pays 13.4% of its income in state and local taxes, while the top 1% pays 7.0%....

In this context, conformity means similarity to the federal tax code....

...This repetitive idiocy can cost lots of taxpayer money very quickly....