HAWAII REPUBLICANS PROVIDE STARTING POINT FOR CLOSING $1.3 BILLION BUDGET SHORTFALL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyI2vB8hDLo 

News Release from Hawaii Republican Party

As we have known all along, the Democrats in the State Legislature have been looking for a reason to raise the general excise tax, even though our House Republicans have proven that the budget can be balanced without this and other tax increases.  Now the Senate is taking some serious steps toward raising the GET and we need to show our opposition. 

There will be a hearing this Wednesday, April 6 at 9:30am in Room 211 at the State Capitol on HB 739, which would raise the general excise tax by 25%. Here is the link to the agenda.

A call to action has gone out to the HGEA, UPW, HSTA and UHPA and you can be sure that their Union Bosses will pack the hearing with people supporting a hike in the GET.   We need regular folks to come out and explain why this is a terrible idea and how it will hurt families across the state.

You can email testimony to the Senate Ways and Means Committee using this email address:  WAMTestimony@Capitol.hawaii.gov

You can send an email to all the Senators and Representatives at once using these two email addresses.

                Senators: sens@capitol.hawaii.gov

                Representatives: reps@capitol.hawaii.gov

If you can show up in person and testify, please take the time to do so.  If you cannot, I have attached a sample letter of testimony that you can use to send in.  Feel free to forward this to all of your friends and family, we need to get the word out and make our voices heard. 

Thank you for your attention and quick action on this.  

Mahalo nui loa,

Jonah Ka'auwai

Chairman

P.S. Please consider becoming a sustaining donor to the Party so we can continue to get the word out and fight these attempts to raise our taxes.  

---30---

RELATED: House GOP releases Balanced State Budget without Tax Hikes