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Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'
Sunday, December 7, 2014 |
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End Run Around Nexus
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4335 Views :: Taxes
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We continue our series of pending U.S. Supreme Court cases....
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Sunday, November 30, 2014 |
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The Tax Credit That Should Not Die
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4652 Views :: Tax Credits
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Note to lawmakers: No touch!
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Sunday, November 23, 2014 |
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Who’s the Boss, Anyway?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4262 Views :: Taxes
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Under the TBOR, tax increases and significant government borrowing had to be presented to the voters before they could take effect....
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Sunday, November 16, 2014 |
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The 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:01 AM :: 4983 Views :: Small Business, Taxes
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The Tax Foundation just released its 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index....
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Monday, November 10, 2014 |
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Un-Taxis?
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:24 AM :: 3895 Views :: Honolulu County
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Big names in the market are Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar....
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Sunday, November 2, 2014 |
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The Great Pension Debate
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5172 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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Other states don’t have anything like these exceptions....
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Sunday, October 26, 2014 |
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What Will It Take to Grow GDP? (Part 3)
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5680 Views :: Labor, Small Business, Taxes
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...Hawaii fell eight rungs from last year, tying the great state of New Jersey for the honor of being the least improved state....
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Sunday, October 19, 2014 |
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What Will It Take to Grow GDP? (Part 2)
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4242 Views :: Economy
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As of June 30, 2013, Hawaii’s 11% top individual rate was second only to California....
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Sunday, October 12, 2014 |
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What Will It Take to Grow Hawaii's GDP?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5208 Views :: Economy, Taxes
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Elections are happening every day. People are constantly voting, with their dollars and with their feet....
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Sunday, October 5, 2014 |
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Falling Off the Cliff
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4114 Views :: Taxes
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"wheeeeeee...splat."
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Sunday, September 28, 2014 |
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The Second Most Unfair Tax System? Really?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5205 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Taxes
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...the study ranked Hawaii’s tax system 49th out of 50, in the order of fairness....
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Sunday, September 21, 2014 |
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Timing Isn't Everything: How to Lose Your Solar Tax Credit
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6064 Views :: Energy, Tax Credits
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This week’s illustration of how timing is important involves the Hawaii Renewable Energy Technologies credit....
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Sunday, September 14, 2014 |
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Timing Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3826 Views :: Taxes
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...poor timing can lead to tremendously bad results in Hawaii's tax system....
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Sunday, September 7, 2014 |
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State-Provided Targeted Benefits: Help or Harm?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3612 Views :: Taxes
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...State governments, including ours, are increasingly using targeted benefits, such as tax credits and exemptions, to attract companies....
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Sunday, August 31, 2014 |
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REIT – A New Kind of Tax Shelter?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4775 Views :: Taxes
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What qualifies as real estate for REIT purposes is an issue that recently has been in the news....
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Sunday, August 24, 2014 |
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Filing Close to Deadline? Get a Receipt!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4118 Views :: Taxes
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Mr. and Mrs. Stocker waited until the day their taxes were due....
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Sunday, August 17, 2014 |
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Flying High
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5170 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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Airline passengers are considered an easy group to tax....
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Sunday, August 10, 2014 |
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Do We Really Want to Starve the Golden Goose?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4573 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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...Department of Taxation employees were able to answer the phone only 59% of the time in 2013....
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Sunday, August 3, 2014 |
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Everywhere...and Perversely Fair
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 3711 Views :: Taxes
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...Our Hawaii Supreme Court said that it reaches "virtually every economic activity imaginable"....
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Sunday, July 27, 2014 |
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Inversion: Is it Fair to Vote with Your Feet?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 3882 Views :: Taxes
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...“inversion” occurs when a U.S. company merges with a foreign company and moves its headquarters to the foreign country....
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Sunday, July 20, 2014 |
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HB2427: One Stroke of the Pen
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5950 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Higher Education, Labor
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...the CLEAR facility is located at UH West Oahu, and that campus testifies that it is okay with scrapping the CLEAR fund....
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Sunday, July 13, 2014 |
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Would You Be Shocked?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6067 Views :: Energy, Taxes, Cost of Living
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...Hawaii's power prices are among the highest in the nation as well. Not surprisingly, one of the big reasons for this is taxation....
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Sunday, July 6, 2014 |
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Winner and Still Champ! Oh, No!!
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 6650 Views :: Hawaii Statistics, Labor, Small Business
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The old saying "nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there" seems to sum up employment conditions in Hawaii....
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Sunday, June 29, 2014 |
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We’ve Been Bracket Creeped!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4165 Views :: Taxes
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...in 1978 when Hawaii adopted its present system of conforming to the federal Internal Revenue Code, inflation adjustments were left off the table....
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Sunday, June 22, 2014 |
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How Hawaii Can Grow the Pie
By Tom Yamachika @ 3:10 PM :: 4139 Views :: Taxes
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What it would take to help the state create a governing and regulatory climate that would bring in more revenue without raising taxes....
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Sunday, June 15, 2014 |
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It's All About Delivering Value
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3633 Views :: Taxes
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When you think about paying taxes, most people seem to think that it's about the same as throwing money down a rathole....
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Sunday, June 8, 2014 |
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What Happens in Vegas...Moves to Vegas
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4089 Views :: Taxes
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...between 1995 and 2000 roughly 12,000 people moved from Hawaii to Nevada, and about 1,850 moved from Nevada to Hawaii....
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Sunday, June 1, 2014 |
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The Hawaiian Tribe--Taxes
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4237 Views :: Taxes
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We certainly hope that no one is thinking that the citizens of the reconstituted Kingdom living on state lands, and taking advantages of the benefits and services offered by the state and federal governments, will then claim they don’t have to pay for them....
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Sunday, May 25, 2014 |
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Time for the Kapalama Terminal Credit
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4590 Views :: Tax Credits
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Let’s use the discussion over this credit to help us all determine what time it is....
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Sunday, May 18, 2014 |
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The Turtle Bay Gut and Replace Bill
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6723 Views :: Environment, Development, Hawaii State Government
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...something remarkable happened in the last days of our legislative session....
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Sunday, May 11, 2014 |
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To Err Is Human – And Then We Can Really Mess Things Up
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3632 Views :: Taxes
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One feature of our legislative session is that a lot of work needs to get done in a short amount of time. When that happens, there are “oops” moments....
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Sunday, May 4, 2014 |
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So You Want A Stable Funding Source?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3706 Views :: Taxes
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This week we look at the term “stable funding source.” In business, there is no such thing....
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Sunday, April 27, 2014 |
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Do You Know the Meaning of ‘Temporary’?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4035 Views :: Taxes
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Yes, to you and me it’s a common word. But in the world of Hawaii tax it seems to have an entirely different meaning....
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Sunday, April 20, 2014 |
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C’mon, Mr Producer, Do You Even Know What All The Laws Are?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4743 Views :: Tax Credits, Taxes
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One of the bills now making its way through the Legislature concerns the motion picture, digital media, and film production tax credit....
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Sunday, April 13, 2014 |
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What’s The Streamlined Sales Tax Project – And Should We Jump In?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 4132 Views :: Taxes
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This problem could be solved if Congress steps in....
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Sunday, April 6, 2014 |
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Tax Return Extensions – Not an Occasion to Punt on Working the Numbers
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 3642 Views :: Taxes
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If you didn't, the computer will take away your extension retroactively. And it will probably hit you with 25% penalties, and interest on top of that....
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Sunday, March 30, 2014 |
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But Shouldn’t We Do Something About the Two Gorillas in the Bar?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5439 Views :: Labor, Taxes
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At June 30, 2013, ERS had an “unfunded actuarial accrued liability” of about $8.4 billion. For EUTF, the number was about $18.2 billion....
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Sunday, March 23, 2014 |
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If You Want a Tax Appeal, Beware the Weekend
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:00 AM :: 3669 Views :: Taxes
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Once in a while people fight with taxing agencies about their taxes....
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Sunday, March 16, 2014 |
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Mayors Are Still After GE Tax Surcharge Authority
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 3712 Views :: Taxes
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This bill is still alive and it represents probably the largest TAX INCREASE still moving.....
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Sunday, March 9, 2014 |
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Whither the Independent Appeals Officer?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4092 Views :: Taxes
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Appeals officers help over 100,000 taxpayers each year resolve their tax disputes with the IRS....
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Sunday, March 2, 2014 |
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Well Then, How Do We Stimulate Business?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4192 Views :: Tax Credits
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A few weeks ago this column spoke out against tax credits....
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Sunday, February 23, 2014 |
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Can We Best Help the Poor by Making Their Lives Complicated?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 6972 Views :: Tax Credits, Taxes, Cost of Living
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Among the proposals being considered are a low-income credit; a food and excise tax credit; a low-income household renters’ credit; an earned income tax credit; and a special tax credit for seniors....
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Sunday, February 16, 2014 |
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I Thought There Was Only One Beast to Feed
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 3462 Views :: Taxes
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When you and I pay our taxes, we probably expect that the money we pay in will be used toward any and all legitimate financial needs of the state....
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Sunday, February 9, 2014 |
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You Like Tax Credits, Why Don’t We?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3950 Views :: Tax Credits
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Those who seek to enlarge or expand those credits at the legislature frequently find the Tax Foundation opposed. Why is that?
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Sunday, February 2, 2014 |
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I Need a Gun, Mommy, but I won't use it (now)
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3607 Views :: Taxes
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Recently the mayors of our four large counties all got together in what has been described as their annual pilgrimage to the legislature....
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Sunday, January 26, 2014 |
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Tax Foundation of Hawaii: We are Still Here, and Life Goes On
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4190 Views :: Taxes
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There was only one Lowell Kalapa, and he is now in a place where there are no taxes....
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