Lowering our cost of living is worth cheering

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President / CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

When the Rolling Stones play “Satisfaction,” people go wild. When Bruno Mars sings “Just the Way You Are,” they sing along. When Don Ho played “Tiny Bubbles,” they cheered.

When someone plays one of their greatest hits, crowds usually applaud.

So what can explain the half-hearted applause from state lawmakers when Gov. Josh Green talked about the biggest tax cut in Hawaii history during his annual State of the State address earlier this week? I believe it was worthy of a standing ovation, but it didn’t get one.

In case you hadn’t heard, the governor’s state income tax cut — approved unanimously last year by the Legislature — will reduce our taxes by as much as 71% for some families and, as Gov. Green pointed out, will take Hawaii from the second worst to the fourth best among the 43 states that have their own income tax systems.

Yet, I witnessed members of the Legislature attending the speech give the tax cut something closer to a polite golf clap. I can’t help but wonder why.

Was it because they are so out of practice at cheering tax cuts that they forgot how to do it? In fairness, they haven’t had a lot of chances in the past to clap about big tax cuts. Maybe they weren’t sure about the etiquette of the situation.

Or maybe they were saving it up for later — assuming Gov. Green was going to mention the tax cut again — like an encore.

And when he didn’t, did they realize they had missed their chance, but felt it was too awkward to applaud in the middle of a new sentence?

Maybe they were distracted by thoughts about all the money that will be staying in the pockets of Hawaii residents instead of going to the state's coffers.

Are they so bummed by having to engage in responsible budgeting this year that they didn’t have the heart to clap?

Maybe — and this is a scary thought — they regret giving the people the big tax cut and intend to introduce bills that would reverse it.

Whatever the reason, I wonder if the people of Hawaii who watched Gov. Green’s address also noticed that lack of enthusiasm. I think most people are pretty happy with the higher paychecks they’ve been receiving — which are going to keep getting higher each year as the tax cut goes into full effect.

If legislators insist on sitting on their hands, I suppose it’s up to us to show them what is worthy of applause.

Let’s make sure our lawmakers understand exactly how happy we are about the income tax cut. So happy, in fact, that any actions to jeopardize the cut or roll it back will be met with very loud jeers.

Because lowering our cost of living through tax cuts is worth cheering.

E hana kākou! (Let's work together!)