Entries for 'Lowell L Kalapa'

The report for November pegs growth in TAT revenues at a positive 9.0% while the collections of the general excise tax are down by 3.4%....

... another legislative session looms large on the horizon ....

Now that everyone is aware that the tax increases of the last few years have allowed state government to accumulate nearly a billion dollars in surplus funds, it is time for policymakers to think about insuring that Hawaii is ready for the next downturn....

For years, local leaders, both within government and the business community, depended on the umbilical cord to federal funds secured by Hawaii’s Congressional delegation....

...how is the new health care initiative going to affect businesses?

One of the idiosyncrasies of the real property tax is an action taken by a county or City council called compromises....

Whew, we dodged the bullet, sighed many beneficiaries of the federal largesse....

...legislative leaders have been taking a dog and pony show on the road to try and convince county officials to give up their revenue sharing of the transient accommodations tax....

More than a decade ago, lawmakers and tax department officials finally realized that it is possible to purchase services for resale....

A couple of weeks ago, this commentary examined some of the hurdles that stand in the way of producing more affordable housing....

The shut down of the federal government pivots on which side will blink first....

Last week’s partial shutdown of the federal government broke records on the airwaves of twitter and other social media with much of the criticism....

Apparently when one is an elected official, one has to make sure that their concerns reflect the concerns of their constituency and obviously the concerns of seniors is right up there at the top of the list....

...unlike other states that have a retail sales tax structure, Hawaii’s general excise tax focuses on the gross income received by a business....

there is a glaring paradox as observers decry the shortage of affordable housing ... while at the same time prevent the development of additional affordable housing....

For more than 35 years the state has adhered to a policy of conforming with the federal income tax code....

...those lost revenues resulted in lawmakers having to raise additional revenue....

...enthusiastic supporters of some very specific causes pushed lawmakers to allow taxpayers to designate a portion of their state tax refund for their specific cause....

For many years it was difficult for policymakers and administrators to conceive that services, like goods, could be purchased for resale....

...it is not the cost of the tax that adds to the price of locally grown products as much as it is the external factors such as the cost of land, labor, and regulatory compliance....

A number of questions about Hawaii’s general excise tax seem to resurface....

In addition to the fees and charges levied for these required permits and licenses, there is the time that it takes to secure many of these permits and licenses....

A local reporter attempted to pin the Foundation down on whether or not it supported the handful of measures that had been thrown into the Honolulu City Council hopper ....

News of the very generous pay increases granted to police officers sent shock waves through the ranks of city and county officials across the state generating calls for “revenue enhancements” or tax increases....

...some of the ways the highway user is tapped to fund what is obliquely related to the construction, repair and maintenance of state and county roads....

Honolulu’s Mayor was rebuffed by the City Council earlier this year when he submitted a proposal to raise the county gas tax by five cents a gallon....

The reaction to last week’s commentary could only be described as shrill....

Nearly a year and a half ago, a commission appointed by the Honolulu City Council to study some of the inequities in the real property tax ordinance dropped its findings on the desks of Council members....

Recently the Chair of the House Finance Committee announced that she will be reviewing the practice of setting up special funds....

One issue that has irritated lawmakers for the past few years is the ability to transfer ownership of companies or organizations that have substantial holdings of real estate without having to pay the conveyance tax....

...lawmakers are beginning to shy away from adopting tax credits....

...because of its broad base...it is applied to nearly every transaction that takes place in Hawaii....

...take a moment to look back on the last 50 or so working days to see how they handled taxpayer funds....

One of the opportunities that sequestration presents is the realization of just how dependent the American public is ....

...how much is too much when it comes to spending on government programs....

we, mere mortals, cannot predict what the prize industry of the future will be....

For the last two months, taxpayers heard time and time again that the “sky is falling, the sky is falling”....

If the minimum wage does rise, where do our elected officials think businesses will get the money to pay the higher wages?

...look at the issue from an economic and financial well-being stand point instead of the emotional and social welfare perspective....

Recognizing the need to help the state balance it books, the hotel industry agreed to a temporary increase in the TAT rate which was increased two percentage points from 7.25% to 9.25%. The temporary increase is supposed to expire on June 30, 2015....

...everything is on the table from an increase in the general excise tax rate to fund education to new fees on cell phone use to the administration’s proposals to tax sugary drinks and single-use bags....

People inquiring about what the legislature is doing are surprised when told that lawmakers are hard at work trying to find ways to take even more of their money. Of course, it starts at the top....

...elected officials desperate to make-up the budget shortfall selectively raised taxes, resorting to increases that weren’t visible to the general public in order to avoid mass resentment ....

...each bright, shiny and eager face will have an agenda to deliver to his or her constituents back in their home districts. That means money!