• Reduce spending, stopping raising taxes Reduce spending, stopping raising taxes Both the state of Hawaii and the county of Kauai are now considering increases in the General Excise Tax. Increasing the GET will increase the cost of living in Hawaii.
• Reduce spending, stopping raising taxes
Reduce spending, stopping raising taxes
Both the state of Hawaii and the county of Kauai are now considering increases in the General Excise Tax. Increasing the GET will increase the cost of living in Hawaii. The GET taxes everything. An increase in the GET means your doctors appointments are more expensive, your medications are more expensive, gas for your car will be higher, your groceries more expensive, your car repair, your house, your rent … everything involved in the everyday cost of living and the cost of doing business will increase. Everything goes up.
And if the GET goes up there is a snowball effect. Employee wages have to go up to cover the additional cost of living. That drives up the cost of services and the cost of doing business all the way around. That in turn starts a whole new cycle of increases. It doesn’t just stop at what one person or one organization needs. It goes on and on and affects every single aspect of our lives.
Another thing about sales taxes in general — and the GET in particular — is that it hits the poor and people on fixed incomes much harder than it affects the rest of society. That is why it is called a “Regressive Tax,” because you go backwards. If you are poor, barely making a living, or a senior citizen on a fixed income struggling to pay your rent, even a small increase can make the difference between making ends meet or not. In the long run, that small increase in taxes costs us all much more in public support.
If we absolutely need to increase the GET to support the necessary critical services of government, that is one thing. But we don’t need the additional funds. We just need to better allocate the funds we have.
Rather than go down the road of increasing taxes, let’s take another look at the budget and chisel away the waste.
Sea Peterson, Kapaa
