Taxes

If the legislature is serious about fighting poverty in Hawaii, a broader and more comprehensive discussion is essential....

...its major impact has been as a funding source for energy and food security initiatives....

32 states have similar exemptions, and research has demonstrated that low and middle-income families spend a larger proportion of their income on food costs....

"Well, I’m always pleased to share credit when people realize they can’t avoid their responsibilities anymore...." - Abercrombie

Recently the mayors of our four large counties all got together in what has been described as their annual pilgrimage to the legislature....

Attorney General David M. Louie joined 46 fellow state and territorial attorneys general in signing a letter sent to the U.S. Trade Representative....

Senator Slom and Representative Aaron Ling Johanson and his fellow House Republicans are introducing companion legislation that includes financial relief for every taxpayer in Hawaii....

There was only one Lowell Kalapa, and he is now in a place where there are no taxes....

SB 2982 proposes a constitutional amendment to exclude certain retirement benefits from income taxation....

Beginning in fiscal year 2015, the distribution of tobacco settlement funds for tobacco prevention and control will return to 6.5 percent after being redirected into the general fund to offset budget deficits for the past several years....

...high-income and low-income filers had large tax expenditures, while middle-income taxpayers had smaller expenditures....

...a proposed bill containing four components that will significantly improve the economic vitality of low and moderate income households....

Souki's call for a pension tax on older, well-off residents of Hawaii is like Governor Abercrombie's Pension Tax of 2011...

...the HIT would increase health insurance premiums by more than $2,800 per person and $6,800 per family over a decade....

"...he provided a very valuable voice, especially in this town where you don't have too many people speaking out on anything."

Residents of Alaska ($40,000 per resident) and Hawaii ($33,000) have the highest levels of state debt on a per capita basis, followed by Connecticut ($31,000), Ohio($28,000) and Illinois ($25,000)....

As of January 1, a new tax rule will prevent restaurant workers from collecting automatic tips....

...property taxes as a share of home values ranging from 0.2 percent (Maui County, Hawaii) to 3.1 percent (Wayne County, New York)....

This is only the beginning—watch how two of these taxes get worse in the years to come....

This tax structure is not surprising given Hawaii’s reliance on tourism as its primary economic driver....

... and two tax hikes for 2014 ....

The report for November pegs growth in TAT revenues at a positive 9.0% while the collections of the general excise tax are down by 3.4%....

... another legislative session looms large on the horizon ....

Our state’s lower-income families are faced with almost insurmountable structural challenges to escaping poverty....

Now that everyone is aware that the tax increases of the last few years have allowed state government to accumulate nearly a billion dollars in surplus funds, it is time for policymakers to think about insuring that Hawaii is ready for the next downturn....

Travelers are currently charged $2.50 per flight under the Transportation Security Administration’s airline security “fee.” Under the budget deal, that would increase to $5.60 per flight or $11.20 for a round-trip ticket....

Consumers choose plastic bags far more often than paper or reusable bags to carry their purchases.... 

For years, local leaders, both within government and the business community, depended on the umbilical cord to federal funds secured by Hawaii’s Congressional delegation....

Christmas trees are pretty unpopular, right?  The House must think so, since its farm bill would pave the way to set up a Christmas Tree Promotion Board....

The law is a complicated one, made so in an effort to get around the Supreme Court’s past rulings that states could not require sales tax collection by a company if that company is not physically present in the state....

...members of the budget conference committee are considering several options that could increase spending by up to an additional $100 billion....

...how is the new health care initiative going to affect businesses?

One of the idiosyncrasies of the real property tax is an action taken by a county or City council called compromises....

The state Department of Taxation paid CGI Group more than $87 million over 12 years....

...Education works: Who needs a Beverage Tax?....

Whew, we dodged the bullet, sighed many beneficiaries of the federal largesse....

Twenty-five people in the state Department of Taxation were put on leave in December 2011 for unauthorized access to tax records....

...over the past three fiscal years, the program has paid out $28 million more in handling fees than it has collected in container fees....

...legislative leaders have been taking a dog and pony show on the road to try and convince county officials to give up their revenue sharing of the transient accommodations tax....

...our picks for the 10 most tax-friendly and the 10 least tax-friendly states in the U.S....

This Halloween, the Chicago-based government watchdog group, Truth in Accounting, issued what its authors call a “haunting” report....

... raised taxes 13 times in 2013 ....

More than a decade ago, lawmakers and tax department officials finally realized that it is possible to purchase services for resale....

...marriage-related church functions, until now regarded as non-profit, will be considered a ‘for-profit’ activity....

• DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 2013
• TIME: 10:00 a.m.
• PLACE: Conference Room 211, State Capitol