Taxes

...City and HART officials were often unable to give specific answers to our questions and rarely took responsibility for their cost overruns and inflated budgets....

...the immediate cash flow problems have been solved for the most part by the Honolulu City Council, which authorized the sale of $350 million in bonds to help bail out the project....

...Honolulu Rail Project is on track to becoming the costliest and most mismanaged public transportation project in our nation's history....

...The Hawaii Legislature is hosting a public informational briefing on state funding for the City & County of Honolulu’s rail project at 10 a.m. Aug. 14 in the State Capitol auditorium....

Texas has no personal income tax....

...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....”

...Hawaii has no soda tax. But that's not for lack of trying.....

... If the funding of rail was all that was on the table it would be simple....

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

... we found $1.595B being siphoned off of Rail for non-rail purposes ....

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

... Before the latest increase, Hawaii ranked 11th ....

...Full Text: Letter to HART Boardmembers, Mayor and County Councilmembers from John Henry Felix....

...State inheritance and estate taxes, together with the federal estate tax, reduce investment, discourage business expansion, and can sometimes drive wealthy taxpayers out of state....

...rail is like the cousin who is always hitting you up for money....

...the share of state and local road spending that is covered by tolls, user fees, and taxes varies drastically. It ranges from only 12 percent in Alaska to 76.3 percent in Hawaii....

...Hawaii GET taxes many products multiple times and ultimately taxes 99.21 percent of the state’s personal income compared to the national median sales tax which applies to 34.46 percent of personal income....

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.... 

...Either Anderson did not understand how the GE Tax works, or he pretended not to....

...Hawaii recently became the first state to make a major push towards a universal basic income....

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

It really comes down to workers not getting much out of their paychecks because of a high cost of living and high taxes....

...Hawaii taxes the spirit at $5.98 per gallon....

Honolulu raked in over $50 million in property taxes last year, from the top 10 taxpaying properties alone....

...no specific dates have been set for the special session and no rail funding mechanism has been agreed upon....

...Check out today’s map below to see where your state lies on the wine tax spectrum....

...negotiations with the public employee unions take place mostly at the state level, but the counties nevertheless are on the hook....

...retroactive tax legislation....

...state lawmakers are eager to capture $26 million dollars in tax money every year from short-term vacation rentals....

All fifty states and the District of Columbia impose some tax on beer above and beyond the general sales tax....

...McDermott calls for Special Session....

...Tax Foundation of Hawaii v. State of Hawaii on Thursday, July 6, 2017, at 11:15 AM at the Supreme Court Courtroom....

...state lawmakers mostly would just be raising taxes on the rich and giving it to themselves....

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....

...but they didn't limit the oppressiveness of the income tax hike that went with it....

...Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai counties are all considering raising the property tax....

Property taxes are assessed as a percentage of home values, so it follows that higher property taxes are paid where housing prices are higher than average....

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

But signs in the media, the Legislature and the governor’s office all point to a special session this summer where the tax hikes are likely to materialize....

We're the Hawaii expats....

For this week’s map, we look at state cigarette tax rates across the country....

Today's Star-Adv Labels what many consider a sensible decision as an “Epic Fail” in screaming all-caps....

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

...the Senate remains open to negotiate an agreement with the House to ensure adequate financing to complete the project, yet minimize the impact on the most vulnerable citizens of the community....

...the lack of dissent allows tax-and-spend policies to move smoothly through the Hawaii Legislature...until....

... Hawaii ranks 31st at 21.5% of collections ....