Taxes

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%....

the Department of Taxation has been allowed to keep a full 10% of the rail surcharge for the costs of administering it, despite the fact that the law directs DOTAX to calculate how much is required for its management of the surcharge, then return the remainder to the rail project....

...an owner of an investment property in Honolulu worth less than half a million dollars can expect to see his (her) combined City and State property tax bill double....

Hawaii has the broadest sales tax in the United States, but it taxes many products multiple times and, by one estimate, ultimately taxes 99.21 percent of the state’s personal income....

Hawaii’s State Government has unnecessarily profited from the Honolulu rail project....

The company had also placed discarded materials and equipment in a drainage ditch that is recognized as a state water body and protected by state and federal regulations....

...challenging times include high shipping costs, high taxes, a high rate of public sector unionism, shaky government pension programs, inadequate housing supply and pervasive homelessness, excessive business and employment regulations, cronyism and corruption....

Grassroot Institute Urges Legislature to Act on Surcharge "Skimming"....

3,600 words full of spending proposals and sunny guarantees about the future....

A few weeks ago, Hawaii homeowners received their 2017 property tax assessments. It was not a pleasant way to end the holidays or start the new year....

...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?....

"We’ve got to wake up and sell development rights along the rail, like they do in Japan and Hong Kong."

...Total Cost Per Smoker: $2,048,587....

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

... legislators are considering a special, higher GET rate for marijuana, but haven’t decided upon that rate yet ....

...the Ige Administration has been meeting with the unions....

Stop the unconstitutional use of public funds to turn native Hawaiians into a race-based tribe. Instead, focus on what would really help them -- like better schools, more housing, and economic development....

This digest summarizes the Hawaii tax laws enacted during the 2016 Regular Session and the federal tax laws enacted during calendar year 2015....

People get viscerally upset when you tell them they need to follow a rule they didn't know and couldn't have known....

Tomorrow, the city will send approximately 300,000 notices....

...The State is the senior partner in the tobacco industry....

OHA may be able to pick boaters’ pockets, but it turns out shore-bound fishermen are protected....

If Dot Foods loses, none of us is safe....

...due to a change in requirements, those residents who have qualified for exemptions in the past must now file a state resident income tax form or risk being disqualified....

...OHA milked $12,684,000 from Harbors Division in 2015....

...the cumulative effect is a 54.8% increase in Wharfage rates....

The result of the general election earlier this month raises the possibility of a high magnitude shake-up in our federal tax system....

...asking Harbors to release the financial information that would justify the need for a wharfage rate increase....

...the classification ran afoul of three protections that the U.S. Constitution, and, to some extent, the Hawaii Constitution, provide under the Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause....

... Gov Ige's Newsletter shares HIDOT's latest tax hike sales pitch ....

For a very long time, states have been wrestling with the problem of how much to tax entities operating in more than one state....

HART has now received a total of $1.8 billion in surcharge revenue for the rail project ... roughly $48.4 million less than projected....

...The first public hearing on the proposal will be Nov. 7 at noon at the Pier 11 terminal at Honolulu Harbor....

The Grassroot Institute argues that this is not about the right to collect taxes, but rather a matter of mis-allocation of the funds....

...Public Hearings November 2 and 3, 2016....

...Residential A Property Tax Classification Ruled Unconstitutional....

42 REITs were identified operating in Hawaii....

In March, the Honolulu Zoo was denied re-accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) for the first time in its 100-year history....

...the habit the state Department of Taxation has of keeping the money that is left over after they process the rail surcharge....

As of the end of Fiscal Year 2016 Hawaii’s Pipeline balance is $548 million....

In total, Governor Ige increased spending by $1.8 billion since he took office....

Excessive taxes and fees, especially regressive per-line taxes, impose a disproportionate burden on low-income consumers....

An average family of five would have to pay more than $1,000 per year just to complete rail....

"...Our numbers come from the DOT submittals to the federal government for the HI state-owned road system, so if they are ‘wrong’ then the DOT needs to say why they submitted them ‘wrong’...."

...a $4 million federal grant to come up with a “reimagining” of the taxes we currently pay....

Despite that heavy spending, Hawaii’s roads are the worst in the U.S. for urban pavement conditions ....

I have good news. Hawaii improved its position in the Index, moving up from 30th to 26th overall....

The expiration of temporary tax increases in Hawaii resulted in the elimination of the top three individual income tax brackets and the lowering of the top marginal rate from 11 to 8.25 percent....

...Apple owed Ireland 13 billion euros....

On September 21, the U.S. House passed H.R. 2315 by voice vote. It now goes to the Senate....