Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

...allowing a lottery in Hawaii could open the door to other things....

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

The low bidder for the Kamehameha Highway Stations Group appeared to be Watts Constructors, which bid $112.7 million for the project. The job went to Nan Inc., which bid $115.8 million. Why did that happen?....

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....

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

DHHL was listed as having $55 million in federal housing funds awarded for Native Hawaiians but unspent, resulting in HUD suspending additional funding....

...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....

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

...Uncle Sam is giving us money. But we are not spending that money so the federal agencies are saying, “Looks like you don’t need this, so why should we give you any more?”....

...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%....

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

Gib Arnold, former basketball coach at the University of Hawaii, just hit the jackpot....

...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....

...the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended an existing green vehicle tax credit to the new breed of diesels....

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

...politicians have thrown out alternative ownership models for the transaction....

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

...an "error rate," meaning payouts to people not legally entitled to them, in excess of 20% for the last ten years....

...weeping, gnashing of teeth, and litigation....

...let’s look at the tax-related conditions that are being proposed....

...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....

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

You may remember Relativity Media from its efforts at the Hawaii Legislature in 2011 and 2012....

...the State and counties aren’t clear on which roads they own....

Fortunately, our lawmakers are allowing the three top rates to die a natural death at the end of this year with our highest marginal rate a more modest 8.25%....

Special funds are pots of money....

...we don’t want to inflict a disproportionate amount of pain on our friends....

...many common vegetables contain nicotine....

By adding a resort fee of $25 to a room rate of $125, the hotel brings in $150 per night but it can advertise a $125 room rate....

...if you are a taxpayer with questions and you call the Hawaii Department of Taxation’s customer service line, there is a more than 50% chance that your call won’t be answered. At all....

...what actually goes into this “unfunded liability” calculation....

...three big issues that are holding us back in international competitiveness....

A double standard on an important issue like this is a great way to breed derision and distrust of government....

A few days ago, the United States Tax Court decided a case that is important to small business owners....

HB145 has quite a history. It started as a bill to limit the tobacco tax on large cigars to 50 cents per cigar....

...we are getting closer to a resolution on the two bills that are seeking to extend the life of the 0.5% Oahu county surcharge on our general excise tax....

...They were under the impression that the bond sale process needed to begin by June 30 of this year. “No,” said the Department of Attorney General, “the law says that the bond sale needs to be DONE by June 30.”...

...the State used to administer the property tax back in the dark ages until the 1978 Constitutional Convention....

...if HB1471 passes we are looking at a total tax of $53.2 million, which is an increase of about 25%....

... hundreds of little (and in some cases, not so little) pots of money sprinkled throughout Hawaii's departments, agencies, and other governmental units ....

In Hawaii a number of us are fascinated with gambling....

The Legislature is considering several bills that would add increases or surcharges to the Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET)....

...we are exporting around 15%-20% of our general excise tax....