Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

...The biggest exception to this gatekeeper rule is the constitutional convention, where the people elect delegates directly....

...looking to introduce legislation to combat predatory practices by game publishers. He called Star Wars: Battlefront II, an “online casino...."

...This will give Warren Buffett et al a chance to “walk the walk” and pay millions more....

...the Tax Administration Special Fund is becoming an all-purpose slush fund for which corrective action is needed....

Should they re-evaluate their tax filings now that the Department’s litigation position is out in the public for all to see?

...The Department apparently regards the taxpayers here as lower life forms and wants to give them no respect.... 

“I object to the use of the word ‘customer.’ It certainly doesn’t feel like that type of relationship to me. Maybe ‘hostage’?”

Halloween may be over, but we still have lots of scary stories!

...Recently, the Honolulu City Council approved on first reading Bill 80 (2017), which would award a real property tax exemption to “ocean-friendly restaurants.”...

...Did DOTAX Turn the Corner on Customer Service?....

...During the past few months, the Tax Review Commission has been busy at work....

...those who buy things from Amazon and have been paying Use Tax can stop....

Over the past several months, there has been a court fight brewing that could have changed how the Department of Taxation lobbies for legislation....

...the Harbors Division isn’t satisfied with three years of triple-digit increases....

...there is "supposed to be" opportunity for participation....

...The special session rail bill, SB 4, provides that if the Foundation wins and the State is ordered to refund money to the City, then the State will scoop the same amount of money from the City’s share of transient accommodations tax....

...The TAT, when it was enacted in 1986, was primarily meant to fund the Hawaii Convention Center....

...People who aren’t aware of what happened may find themselves with property tax bills many times what they are now....

 ...one State department that has funds with no exemption, and refuses to pay it: the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL).... 

...the Central Services Skim has redirected about $45 million a year from the special funds to the state general fund....

...A Hawaii law dating back to 1955, which now can be found at HRS section 36-27, says that 5% of any special fund’s income will be paid to the state general fund to pay “central service expenses....”

...if you don’t work, you don’t eat....

On July 10, 2017, Governor Ige proudly signed House Bill 209, a bill that establishes a Hawaii earned income tax credit.... 

...City officials were accused of certifying financial statements in 2002 and 2003 that were false because they failed to disclose that the city was purposely underfunding....

...HART stunned critics by cancelling a special audit that would have examined past cost overruns....

One of the legislative bills that is now being considered by Gov. David Ige is a curious bill, HB 735, involving the car rental industry.... 

To what or whom should we be looking for leadership to get us out of this mess?

...retroactive tax legislation....

...fifteen senators wanted to stick their thumbs in the Governor’s eye....

...If there is a position taken by a committee chair on one bill or one issue that is not reflecting the wishes of the committee, why can't the committee simply reject the chair's recommendation?....

GEMS, as a program, has been a miserable failure, resulting primarily in a large wad of cash that is just sitting in the bank. That’s why our legislature got the bright idea to “use” it to prop up another miserable failure – the “Cool the Schools” initiative....

On April 26, the Trump Administration released a document that contained a roadmap of sorts for an overhaul of the federal tax code....

...Shut up or we’ll make you pay for rail too....

How does a county raise money?

IRS Ruling: Act 1 Cash Payout to HGEA members would cost ERS its nonprofit status .... 

The 2nd Annual Maui County Carnival, scheduled for April 6-9, 2017, has been cancelled. Skyrocketing state government fees have been blamed....

Terms being bandied about include exemptions, deductions, and tax credits, and among tax credits there are the “CreditAbles” – refundable, nonrefundable, and assignable credits.....

...SB 620 would redefine how our general excise tax laws define “doing business”....

...this study appeared to be an outgrowth of a move by our teachers’ union....

...two bills are moving through the legislature on this subject....

The "shall make sufficient sums available" language is used in one more place in our constitution. It's in Article XII, Section 1, relating to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands....

House Bill 1586 is a multi-faceted bill that seeks to change some of the characteristics of our tax system....

...the amount of the penalty could be as much as $695 x 2 adults plus $695 x ½ x 3 kids = $2,432.50....

The sheer number of bills related to tax or public finance is staggering. It's much more frenetic this year than in any other year I've been in this position....

...the State is making a ton of money off the skim....

Is a 7% return on investment sustainable into the future? Another organization that studied the issue said that a more realistic rate of return would be the “risk-free” rate, which they calculated at 2.344%....

...our state government paid half a million dollars in pension payments to people who were already dead. Well, then, what do you think of budgeting many times that amount for people who don’t even exist?....

On December 13, 2016, Governor Ige signed off on, and thereby finalized, significant increases in fees charged by the Department of Transportation Harbors Division....