Taxes

Our Legislature is in full swing now and is actively considering a number of bills that will increase our cost of living in Hawaii....

Almost every single candidate in both parties has introduced policies that would alter our tax code. However, the approach that candidates have taken differs tremendously....

...tax proposals to watch for – the good, the bad, and the ugly....

Every year, lawmakers seeking to fund their favorite programs or services inevitably ask themselves....

Hawaii state and local taxes are the 4th highest in the USA....

... GE Tax Hikes on the move ....

...seeks to increase the GET by 1% and increases taxable income....

...this prohibition has already passed the U.S. House....

SB 2478--0.5% surcharge to pay for a long-term care benefits program and SB 2599--raise the GET from 4% to 5% to pay for a series of education initiatives....

Temporary tax increases expired in Hawaii. The three top rate brackets were eliminated, and the top marginal rate fell from 11 percent to 8.25 percent....

Apparently GEMS is an attractive target for raiding because a 2014 bond issue raised $150 million for the program and little, if any, capital has been deployed to date....

...the state’s economy will continue to suffer until the regulatory barriers and crippling tax rates for businesses are removed....

Though often thought of as a major tax type, corporate income taxes account for just 5.3 percent of state tax collections nationally ....

...he released seven chickens in the revenue office lobby....

...26 other states and the District of Columbia have implemented a state EITC....

Hawaii State-Local Tax Burden as a Percent of State Income is 10.2%, ranking 14th....

...a net increase of $297.6 million in FY 2017, an increase of 4.4%....

...the new law incorrectly lumps e-cigarettes and lower-risk smokeless tobacco products in with the much more harmful nicotine cigarettes....

Serious students of history may wonder what is going on. There is, after all, a federal law that prevents Hawaii taxes from touching an airline’s gross income....

$104 million in omissions combine with mystery spending cuts to create unrealistic budget scenario....

... states with low levels of support tend to have higher per capita tax collections and populations with lesser reliance on federal assistance ....

A recently published study proposes a pact between the public health community and the vaping community to combat a shared enemy, Big Tobacco....

Hawaii was one of fifteen states that were grandfathered....

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 ....