Taxes

...three states have ten or more tax brackets, led by Hawaii with twelve....

Senators Russell Ruderman, Glenn Wakai, Lee Ihara, Mike Gabbard and Gilbert Keith-Agaran voted in the affirmative but with reservations.  A no vote at this stage serves to exclude the person voting no from participating in the Conference Committee....

HB134 will be voted on this Tuesday - 4/14 - in the State Senate....

...we are getting closer to a resolution on the two bills that are seeking to extend the life of the 0.5% Oahu county surcharge on our general excise tax....

The only way to contain costs is to force HART to live within its current means....

The Hawaii GET taxes many products multiple times and, by one estimate, ultimately taxes 99.21 percent of the state's personal income....

"It brings relief to our beleaguered taxpayers and small businesses, and balances our state finances in the long term."

Hawaii will be the 25th state to reach Tax Freedom Day, 5 days earlier than national average....

...the State used to administer the property tax back in the dark ages until the 1978 Constitutional Convention....

...if HB1471 passes we are looking at a total tax of $53.2 million, which is an increase of about 25%....

HB 169 would gradually raise the transient accommodations tax for resort time share vacation units to 9.25%....

...The current trend of increasing state and county revenues via various state tax increases and surcharges represents the sort of short-term planning that inevitably leads to economic troubles....

A report on the top state issues of 2015....

...an analysis of each new special or revolving fund proposed by legislative bills....

...Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled decisively in favor of online travel companies....

...Sand Should Return with Trade Winds....

...0.25 per cent rate, beginning January 1, 2017. Amends the administrative fee for the collection of a county surcharge by the State....

... hundreds of little (and in some cases, not so little) pots of money sprinkled throughout Hawaii's departments, agencies, and other governmental units ....

...Hawaii Appleseed is making solid progress advancing important legislation to benefit low-income people in our state....

This translates to an additional $191.4 million in anticipated revenues to the state general fund for fiscal biennium 2016-17....

...IRS is seeking volunteers to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee that identifies major taxpayer concerns and makes recommendations for improving IRS service....

In Hawaii a number of us are fascinated with gambling....

...And the poorer you are, the more of your income goes to GE Tax....

During floor session today (March 5th, 2015) after 1:00 PM, House Finance Chair stood up and requested a waiver of the 48-hour requirement to hear an agenda of bills with just one hour of notice....

...a nonpartisan effort to make the state budgeting process accessible to the public by putting state budget facts and figures online, in real time....

The Legislature is considering several bills that would add increases or surcharges to the Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET)....

...the proposed laws could actually increase obesity by increasing poverty....

Also in the H&R Block report is the news that the individual mandate penalty is averaging $172. This is likely to rise in future years....

Under SB358, gas will be taxed more heavily than oil....

...we are exporting around 15%-20% of our general excise tax....

... According to ITEP, payment of sales and excise taxes takes up an average of 11% of family income for the poorest 20% of earners ....

The fasted growing type of pass-through business is the S corporation....

We have good news to share about our fights against unfair taxes and regulation....

...the effect of this bill is to burden the compliant small businesses and owner/operator establishments by creating a system that favors larger rental companies and hotels....

1,515 bills were introduced in the House of Representatives and 1,379 bills were introduced in the Senate – over 400 more bills than were introduced in 2014....

Liabilities everywhere: The rail project, the failing state hospital system, overdue maintenance on state buildings and campuses, underfunded public worker pensions and health insurance, and so much more....

Sales taxes in most states leave rent alone, but our General Excise Tax (GET) taxes it....

Hawaii is one of the worst states in the country when it comes to the citizen tax burden....

Currently, seven states—Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin—are permitted to tax Internet access....

...Small Business Caucus of the Hawaii State Legislature today announced its priority list of bills....

UPDATE: HB1253 has been deferred. SB727 passed with amendments....

House Bill 1240 will bypass the House Committee on Education and is referred solely to the House Committee on Finance....

...HB1307, introduced by Rep Kaniela Ing, raises income taxes on middle class families by 12%....

The President’s budget has a proposed increase in the federal capital gains tax rate....

Here are five Obama tax proposals that make no sense....

...In coming weeks, Hawaii’s Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision....

...A single filer earning Hawaii's median income of $61,408 can expect to pay $4,043.88 in state income taxes, the highest dollar amount of any state, or 6.59% of his income....