Hawaii Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1, 2025
HR6062 Passes Senate--creates process to Amend American Samoa Territorial Constitution
Hawaii Preferred Port of Entry for 'Birth Tourism' Scheme
Income tax cuts set to kick in
HTH: … Residents across the state will see less being withheld from their paychecks beginning in January. For a person making $50,000 annually, they will get about $33 more each bimonthly paycheck, or over $790 annually….
Gov. Josh Green in June signed Act 46 into law, which he billed as “the largest income tax cut in state history.” Each year until 2031, the new tax plan will eliminate the lowest tax brackets, reduce the tax rates for all brackets, and increase the standard income tax deduction….
The new tax scheme will continue to make adjustments to its withholding tables annually through 2031.
The other changes will come in alternating tax years: increases to the standard deduction will take effect in even-numbered tax years between 2024 and 2030 and also the 2031 tax year, while the tax bracket changes will be implemented in odd-numbered tax years between 2025 and 2029.
Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii — a nonprofit organization dedicated to informing taxpayers about the finances of the Hawaii government — said the changes should be a welcome relief for taxpayers on the lower to middle rungs of the income ladder, and that the foundation was supportive of the changes when they were introduced in this year’s legislative session.
“People needed this,” Yamachika said. “We needed this. We’ve been losing too many people. People have been buying one-way tickets out of here.”
According to Tax Foundation of Hawaii data, the tax percentage reductions will have the greatest impact for people making between $10,000 and $40,000 per year.
In 2025, their state tax will be reduced by about 70%, while in 2027 and 2029 — when the next bracket changes take effect — they could see their tax burden more than 90% reduced from what it is today.
Data from the Department of Taxation estimates the average tax owed by a family of four making the state’s median household income was just over $5,000 in 2023. In 2025, that burden will be about $3,500, and by 2031, it will be only $1,473.
At the very lowest end of the income spectrum, the new tax brackets reduce payers’ income tax burden by 100%.
With the new tax cuts, Hawaii will go from having the second-highest income tax burden in the country — second only to Oregon, a state that doesn’t have a sales tax — to having the fourth-lowest income tax burden by 2031….
HNN: Hawaii taxpayers to soon see more take-home pay
read … Income tax cuts set to kick in - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Maui Prep Dumps Trans Agenda: "Children should not be deciding if they want to change their gender”
KITV: … "We are here to make sure that everybody knows that when we fight for trans rights, we are fighting for transgender rights. We are not trying to turn cisgendered kids trans, we're trying to make sure trans kids stay alive," Pride at Work Hawai'i president Michael Golojuch said. "...and make sure that trans, mahu, non-binary intersex keiki know that they're fine who they are."
(TRANSLATION: WE are coming for YOUR children.)
If the suggested policies do indeed go into effect in 2025, Pride at Work is demanding the school return every dollar it received from the state and county. The group is also calling on its private donors to reassess their contributions.
(CLUE: Enrollment at Maui Prep will increase because of this.)
The proposed rules would require students to use he/she pronouns only and no alternatives will be acknowledged. Restrooms would be used based on biological birth gender and students would only be allowed to dress themselves in the uniform of their birth gender.
Steve Phillips has a daughter who went to Maui Prep and he supports the idea.
"Children under the age of 18, 21, should not really be deciding if they want to change their gender, I think that's fine if someone wants to do that at a older age," Phillips explained.
State Rep. Elijah Pierick echoed Phillips' perspective, adding, "I believe that every school in Hawai'i and in America should have a lot of freedom. I think that's a fantastic way of doing things, that's a traditional and conservative framework of looking at genders."
But area lawmaker Elle Cochran argued Native Hawaiian traditions honor transgender people, or mahu, and she (blablabla and) disagrees with the plan.
"To me, it's feeling like a discrimination sort of way, but it is a private school, it's not state oversight here," Cochran added. …
(CLUE: Enrollment at Maui Prep will increase because of this.)
read … Transgender-related policies proposed for Maui private school face backlash
“Historic Lahaina rebuild systematically stymied by Maui County officials”
CB: … Federal lawmakers are signaling their support for preservation and restoration of treasured historic landmark sites in Lahaina by finalizing a study to establish a new historic heritage area in the town. But progress toward rebuilding these fire-damaged properties has slowed to a halt.
(CLUE: The ‘study’ will be the venue for a fight over which Lahaina to ‘restore’—the 1830s HK Capitol or the 1880s Front Street.)
(2nd CLUE: It is possible to restore both, but cultural nationalists don’t want this.)
Owners of historic properties — both residential and commercial — who are hoping to rebuild say they are being systematically stymied by Maui County officials. They say county officials are slow-walking, stalling or stopping their plans by making it very difficult to obtain building permits that would allow them to go forward.
Property owners along historic Front Street are starting to demand action, which they say is long overdue. The devastating fire occurred nearly 18 months ago, in August 2023. Some are wondering whether Maui County is trying to kill off old historic Lahaina entirely….
A new organization called the Front Street Recovery Group, which includes owners of the cornerstone locations of old Lahaina, is gathering members and raising money to restore historic storefronts there. The owners’ lots are cleared now, and most have gotten their insurance money and are ready to begin reconstruction.
Kaleo Schneider, a fourth-generation Lahaina property owner whose land hosted five commercial buildings on Front Street, including one with a historic designation, said that 70 Front Street landowners, almost all of them local families, have joined their hui.
“Everybody on Front Street, we want to build like for like,” Schneider said. “It needs to look like Lahaina again. That was the charm. We’re all rebuilding. None of us intend on backing out.”
Another key player in the group is Kimo Faulkner, whose family built and owns the Pioneer Inn, constructed in 1901. Faulkner said they intend to rebuild their historic hotel “in the same exact way.”
Kate Blystone, Maui County planning director, said the county is following its established procedures for analyzing permits and is meeting with the affected property owners individually to hear their concerns. She said that shoreline setback rules have changed since most of these properties were built, and that it is difficult to predict how individual cases will be resolved by the county planning commission, which she said would be the ultimate decision-maker….
Background: Scheme to Remake Lahaina as Touristy Water Park Advances in Congress
read … Kirstin Downey: 'It Needs To Look Like Lahaina Again' - Honolulu Civil Beat
HECO Files 95-Page Report to PUC on Lahaina Fire
IM: … Hawaiian Electric Company filed a 95-page document with the Public Utilities Commission.
“This Report addresses the events surrounding the August 8, 2023, Lahaina Fires from the standpoint of Hawaiian Electric operations, and summarizes the many measures that Hawaiian Electric has taken since the fire to mitigate the risk that its equipment is involved in an ignition.”
The report was filed in Non-Docket Case No. 2024-01872, a proceeding I which the PUC has banned public intervention, thus preventing intervenors from signing confidentiality agreements and reviewing all redactions….
CB: HECO's Report On Maui Wildfires Mirrors Prior Investigations - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … HECO Files 95-Page Report on Lahaina Fire | Ililani Media
Developers to build new Aloha Stadium on old foundations
HNN: … developers for the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District revealed details of their plans to the Stadium Authority for the first time Thursday.
Prominent local housing developer Stanford Carr and his nationally recognized partners, who formed the Aloha Halawa District Partners, are promising a vibrant entertainment complex as well as livable residential neighborhoods.
To save money and time, the partnership plans to build the new stadium in exactly the same footprint as the current facility, including using the concrete risers in the north and south end zones as a foundation, but other than that, the area will be completely transformed….
(CLUE: There was nothing wrong with the old Aloha Stadium.)
He also said they were in discussions with agencies, such as the Department of Education and the governor’s office, about redevelopment ideas adjoining the 98-acre stadium property, including a new school in the district, so Aiea Elementary School’s site could be used for housing, as well as redevelopment of the Puuwai Momi public housing to integrate it better with the new community….
State Rep. Garner Shimizu, who represents Moanalua and Aiea, was also pleased with the presentation.
“I think it’s a great addition to our island, the area, and of course, we want to be sensitive to the cultural aspect and surrounding communities, but they did a great job,” he said….
SN: Developer team shares vision for NASED's new stadium
read … Developers’ vision transforms Aloha Stadium into ‘new urban community’
NTSB: Mechanical issue after takeoff
KHON: … The flight took off on runway 4L and typically planes turn to the right. Video evidence shows that did not happen. The air traffic controller questioned the pilot and the pilot reported mechanical issues with their controls shortly after taking off, according to NTSB Alaska Regional Chief Clint Johnson.
The plane crashed into the building shortly after.
Preston Kaluhiwa, 26, and Hiram Defries, 22, both died in the crash…
The Cessna 208 is not required to have a black box but Johnson said there are other components that will have recorded information….
SA: Collecting debris from the fatal plane crash is NTSB’s focus | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SA: Hawaii pilot killed in plane crash was set to get wings, propose to girlfriend | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
KITV: NTSB faces challenges investigating the Kamaka Air plane crash | News | kitv.com
read … NTSB: Mechanical issue after takeoff | KHON2
TRO not Enforced before Killing
CB: … Theresa Cachuela called 911 at least three times in the weeks before she was killed by her husband in a Central Oʻahu mall parking garage.
In one call after midnight on Dec. 10, 2023, the 33-year-old screamed and told the Honolulu Police Department dispatcher her husband was chasing her in his car on Kapolei Parkway in Ewa Beach.
Cachuela later told the dispatcher she saw officers at a nearby roadblock — on Geiger Road and Kamakana Street — and would pull over to ask for assistance.
In the 911 calls, obtained by Civil Beat last week through a public records request, a man says, “Miss, tell me what’s going on,” before Cachuela replies, “My husband was chasing me,” her voice rising in panic.
“I have a TRO against him,” she says, using the acronym for temporary restraining order, before the call ended.
Cachuela’s mother, Lucita Ani-Nihoa, has kept most of this to herself for a year while she grieved. Last week she was ready. In an interview with Civil Beat, she said her daughter told her the officers at the roadblock responded to her plea for help by telling her to go home….
read … A Year After Her Daughter's Killing, A Mother Fights For Change - Honolulu Civil Beat
After Years for Purposeful Legislative Foot Dragging, Overcrowded Hilo Jail Gets 46 new beds
BIN: … As of today, the Hawaiʻi Community Correctional Center has 304 inmates with 210 awaiting trial and 48 probation violators. Although the design capacity increases from 206 to 254, the facility will still be overcrowded with an occupancy rate of about 119%, Mahoe said.
The original concept for the expansion was a module to house 144 inmates. Those plans were (purposefully) scaled back to 48 beds because of (an artificial) lack of funding (created by soft-on-crime legislators in hopes of forcing federal intervention leading to a mass release of criminals)….
The project has been in the works since late 2017, with construction beginning in 2022….
read … New housing unit is a start but not a solution for chronic overcrowding at Hawaiʻi County’s primary correctional facility : Big Island Now
A booming problem: 0 illegal fireworks arrests in Hawaii this year
KHON: … Honolulu police said there have been 624 calls on Oahu to report illegal fireworks since Sunday, Nov. 3, but there have been no arrests made in all of 2024.
Pearl City’s major said officers can not take a suspect into custody without a witness.
“If they’re willing to meet with an officer, that will help us. If not, we’ll get the call in the office, we’ll check the area. Many times they’ll see the officer coming, officers are patrolling with a blue light on, and people will run,” said Maj. Randall Platt.
Video evidence can be shown to responding officers to aid in an arrest, but a Kaneohe lawmaker said prosecution can be tricky too.
“Department of Law Enforcement has told me that in order to prosecute someone successfully for an aerial, you need to actually find a piece of that aerial. And when you’re shooting the evidence, you know, a thousand feet in the air, it’s difficult to find a piece of that piece of that firework,” said Rep. Scot Matayoshi. ….
read … A booming problem: 0 illegal fireworks arrests in Hawaii this year
Conspiracy Nut News: Elections Commissioner Gets Kicked Out Of His Own Meeting
CB: … On Wednesday, the meeting dragged on with more of the same. Testifiers and Cushnie questioned the legitimacy of mail-in voting. Ballot “chain of custody.” Election certification. Whether Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago did this, did that, did not and why not. Local election deniers have been trying to give him the boot for over a year now and, more lately, have been gunning to ax Chair Michael Curtis.
But on Wednesday, it was Cushnie who got the boot. Three hours into a four-hour meeting Curtis ejected Cushnie from the meeting after the two spent endless minutes arguing over … procedure.
As Cushnie continued to repeat that the chair was violating a rule that guaranteed all members would be allowed to fully participate, Curtis turned to him.
“You’re out of order once. You’re out of order twice,” the chair declared, waving first one and then two fingers at him.
“You’re not allowing anyone to talk,” Cushnie insisted.
“You’re out of the meeting,” Curtis proclaimed. “You’re being ejected from the meeting … for obstructing the agenda.”…
Precisely as Explained: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024 (Read and learn if you can. Many can’t.)
read … Elections Commissioner Gets Kicked Out Of His Own Meeting
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