Taxes

Three IT systems that were old, unreliable and costly to maintain were replaced with modern scanning and mail-opening equipment....

Report of the 13-person Working Group....

This Thursday night, millions of Americans will celebrate the New Year with close friends, good food, and champagne....

Hawaii's Green Energy Market Securitization program (GEMS) financed with $145 million in bonds....

Improved Rates Projected to Save Employers $50 Million....

...our government has forced our utilities to jack up our electric bills to pay for this financing program that, to date, has not been able to underwrite a single kilowatt....

NASA provided $3 million for a mock trip to Mars filmed in Hawaii. Conclusion: personality conflicts arise in when people are stuck together for an extended time....

Star-Advertiser is calling for new laws when existing laws aren’t enforced by the state....

Hawaii’s tax on Internet access, as well as those of six other states and their localities, will end by mid-year of 2020 if a congressional plan to permanently ban taxes on Internet access makes its way to the president’s desk....

Students often owed $40,000 or more in college loans – holding a degree they claimed was inadequate at best....

The bill will be introduced during the upcoming 2016 legislative session....

...the Honolulu City Council is considering an ordinance to extend the rail tax....

The top rates of 9%, 10%, and 11% go away at the end of 2015. The top rate effective as of the beginning of next year is 8.25%....

State falls to #31 in national ranking....

Hawaii Ranks 44th with a 6.3% Tax Rate....

...the FTA has not reached out to HART and officials were not aware the money was in jeopardy....

"There is no evidence that the Galuterias repaid the back property taxes on the Pakui Street residence...."

“50% bonus depreciation” is a system where half of the equipment cost can be deducted in the first year it is placed in service....

A panel discussion on the barriers to economic prosperity for businesses in Hawaii....

...homeowners of flex units face the challenge of having their entire property classified as 'Commercial', which equates to approximately 254% more in taxes....

State Department of Taxation officials have pointed to a lag in processing tax returns as a key reason for the swings....

...today, the federal tax code is roughly six times as long as it was in 1955, while federal tax regulations are about 2.5 times as long....

Hawaii has grabbed tens of millions of dollars from Honolulu County taxpayers and diverted it to the general fund, rather than using it for a mass transit rail project as intended....

Hawaii ranks 44th at $58 per person ....

Sylvia Luke wants it as a slush fund to purchase Ali’i Place. Ernie Martin wants it to build affordable housing....

...the average property tax deduction taken on the Schedule A, per tax return, for each county....

On April 13 this year, Bill 36 was introduced in the Honolulu City Council....

Today’s map looks at state tax collections per capita....

...when a child is born in Hawaii, he or she can count on $26,500 in debt that the state owes per citizen....

The US came in 32nd out of 34 OECD countries, topping only Italy and France....

The President urged the lawmakers to adopt his domestic economic agenda at the state level because he doesn’t expect Congress to take much action for the remainder of his presidency....

including Travelocity.Com, LLP, Expedia, Inc., Orbitz, LLC, and Priceline.Com, LLP....

...the IRS has added a new item to its “Dirty Dozen,” a list of tax scams....

"...come January, when the Legislature convenes, we’re going to have to address it...."

The Aloha State, one of Kiplinger's top ten least tax-friendly states, is known for its high cost of living....

The share of infrastructure expenditures funded by tolls, user fees, and user taxes ranges from 14.2 percent in Alaska to 86.4 percent in Hawaii....

Without food processors in the islands, Hawaii agriculture will always be limited....

Hawaii's tax structure is 2nd-worst in the US for labor-intensive manufacturing....

...taxing authorities have had to undergo serious mental gymnastics to characterize digital products such as streaming video in a way that can be dealt with by their tax regime....

...and this doesn't include the General Excise Tax....

...Guam refused to issue tax overpayment refunds "often for several years at a time," instead using the money to fund the government....

Excepting heavily incentivized research and development (R&D) operations, mature firms generally experience above-average tax costs in Hawaii....

...the Hawaii Department of Taxation was able to answer less than half of the phone calls it received....

Hawaii has the lowest effective rate at 0.28%....

...the only honest answer is "as much as it takes."....

Hotel occupancy taxes also appear to eat into the budget tourists set for their vacation trips. Such an effect was empirically observed in Hawaii in 2013....

...the state’s redemption rate decreased from 72.6 percent in fiscal year 2014 to 68.4 percent in the last fiscal year, which ended in June 2015....