Tax increases are out of control
Aloha elected representatives;
Please say no to yet another tax increase.
Last year, the majority of people I heard from opposed the tax proposal to impose a tax on investment property.
It was opposed because every business and rental property is an investment property.
Now lawmakers want to impose an increase to our General Excise Tax!
This is crazy because this is a tax on literally everything!
We just had a tax increase in January!
Come on people, Hawaii is already one of the highest taxed states in the U.S.
Our local families are leaving the islands in ever-increasing numbers because it’s getting impossible to afford to live here.
Lawmakers keep dressing it up like it will help teachers.
Every single resident, including teachers, will be affected adversely because the GE tax is on literally everything.
Hawaii residents pay a great amount of money already for education.
When was the last time you did a serious forensic audit on the education department?
We are near the top in the U.S. for funding per pupil, yet our students are near the bottom in test scores.
Instead of raising taxes, I plead with you to find out where the current money goes, and find ways to make more of our hard-earned money flow down to the teachers and schools.
M. Martin, Poipu
Hanapepe student display available now at KCC
I read with interest the letter to the editor on Jan. 5 about the amazing airport exhibits, especially the historic buildings in Hanapepe. These exhibits are displayed for residents who travel, and for visiting tourists. There are some residents who do not have an opportunity to travel, therefore, they would not be able to see the exhibits at the airport. I am one of them since I am now retired and do not travel off-island often.
The display of the Hanapepe historic buildings was a class project of Sheri Majewski’s fifth-grade class at Eleele School. It is now available in the library at the Kauai Community College Learning Resource Center for everyone to see. The library hours are Monday through Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Spring break is March 18 to March 22, so the library hours may be shortened. Please call the circulation desk at 245-8233 for more information.
Arnette Lee, Hanapepe
I am a teacher and I will tell you where the money goes…private “consultants” hired to tell Admin how to tell teachers how to teach (yes, a scam). We also have district employees who supposedly do the same thing. Finally, we have schools with bloated Admin and “support staff” while classrooms contain 35+ students. What I am describing is bureaucracy. Hawaii is a one party state, this is what you get. Forget hiring more teachers to reduce class size. We need someone fire a majority of the leadership, rein in spending, and reset with an expectation for results. The leadership is just cruising waiting for their pension.
Who did you Vote for? Democratic Socialist,of Conservative Republican!
There are several theories I came up with when dealing with the Hawaiians and the inter-island travel they had to deal with. Number 1, they knew from long ago, only where one island was. For example, if you lived on Kaua’i during the old kingdom 1758, they knew where Oahu was only and not the other islands. They knew which direction and how long it would take to travel there by canoe. Paddling. Probably no more than a day and a half in calm waters. So as you can see, Honolulu already was the gathering place way back in 1758. And they did this for Maui and the Big Islands too.
Thank you Mr. Martin for calling our attention to the “government/liberal’s” tax and spend addiction. The easiest thing in the world to do is to spend other people’s money! The reality is that as long as Democrats, who live in a naïve dream world existence and believe money grows on trees are running our lives, it will never end. After Reagan, and now our incredible President Trump, it’s very obvious that giving tax relief to the money creators (real businesses who fuel our economy for everyone), the entire economy is lifted and even the lowest wage workers lives are enhanced. But then we know that educated Democrats and liberals are insane and the uneducated, uninformed, other world recently legal and ILLEGAL immigrants flooding our country will always vote Democrat for their promised free stuff and easy life. It’s a fools game perpetrated by fools! We know this because in every instance liberals/Democrats are in charge the same pain is inflicted upon the job creators and the workers over and over again until the City/State/Country affected morphs into an economic mess. Voting for the same stupid liberal creatures over and over again, and expecting different results, is Einstein’s definition of insanity. Just ask every resident of every major city that is historically governed by Democrats! It’s happening right before our very eyes! For those with the intelligence to open them that is.
Don the Con, temporarily in the White House, proposed a record $4.7 trillion budget on Monday, pushing the federal deficit past $1 trillion.
Even with his own projections, Don the Con’s budget would not come into balance for a decade and a half, rather than the traditional hope of balancing in 10.
The tax cuts for the wealthy have, so far, added two trillion to the deficit. Wait, who is the “big spender” again? The DOE is cut 10% but Ivanka gets one billion for her pet child care program. Sounds like hush money. I bet she has a tape too!
Like his denial of the 97% scientific consensus on climate change, Don the Con is in denial that the House of Representatives are no longer doing his bidding. His runaway, record breaking spending will be stopped; but, not by republicans.
The bottom line with the national debt is the ratio of debt to our GDP. During the Obama administration it grew from around 75% to around 110%. During Trump, the ratio has stopped growing and even declined somewhat. Revenues have continued to grew after the Trump tax cut, but spending has not grown as fast as it did under Obama, because more people are getting jobs and don’t need as much help from the government. The growth in debt has slowed while the growth in the economy has accelerated. Hence the ratio is dropping. This is the bottom line. Sure, we could probably do better with the help of congress, but at least Trump is doing a lot better than Obama.
You are spinning so hard to claim that trump is not the biggest, most massive, spender we’ve ever seen that you’ve plumb spun right out of control. As for your premise, Now that the economy has slowed this quarter and the signs point towards a continuation, how are we going to cover the two year free for all? Go ahead, say he’s not a big spender, say the economy will boom, add that to the the denial of disgusting immorality, his foul mouth, his lies, his racism, his sexism, his bigotry. Throw it all in the lake of trump you are swimming in and tell us how fine that water is!
This is not unusual. I state some basic, bottom-line facts, from past results, that show that Trump is doing far better than Obama regarding deficits. You respond by name calling, changing the subject, and speculations about the future.
Your type of response is basically an admission that the facts are in Trump’s favor.
Our citizens who leave Kauai do not leave because their taxes are too high, they leave because their salaries are too low. The minimum wage must be a living wage enabling Hawaiians the ability to pay their rent and feed their families.
It is clear that homeowners, people who own the structures they live in, are not living in investment property.
Investment property is something that produces revenue. When you look around our island and see the millions of dollars made from the tourist dollar, ask yourself, where does all that money go? Some of it pays local wages and taxes but a majority of the profit goes to Mainland investors.
It’s time we enact legislation to keep more of that money here. Local citizens should also profit from sharing our island with those who come to visit.
Wow! An avowed Liberal/Socialist pap distributor is against a “child care program” offering relief, support and time for couples with new born babies to spend more time, and get more support, for their important time spent with every child after birth! If this were a Democrat/Liberal program the idiots among us would be all over it! Hmmm… come to think of it, that is the perfect definition of a HYPOCRITE!
We all know that trump supporters aren’t the brightest lights in the chandelier; but, can’t you at least hit the correct corresponding reply arrow? This is the 3rd time this month. Poor Ginger is still trying to make sense of being replied to like this!
Gordy, you really need a hobby.
The only other person spouting such nonsense is AOC. Seems like you both love the idea of a top down totalitarian society…as long as the ones at the top making the decisions happen to agree with you.
RG DeSoto
Excellent comment Ginger Doll.
I was never clear on why the authors of that initiative or proposition we voted on last November to tax investment property took out the specific language that defined investment properties as being worth over a million dollars and is rented for at least part of the year. Seems to me, voters would favor taxing such properties to provide additional school funding if the definition of “investment” properties is specific enough. Must have been big money behind defeating it.
Great letter filled with such truth. Attending county council meeting tomorrow with similar concerns. Thank you. Don’t give up! Continue to speak until you find the right ears to listen.
Hobby is good. Many of the people in Hawai’i are in to race cars or just something to do with the car, radios. If you really wanted to put education at the forefront of this venture, how would you go at it? I would make 5 exams on the topic. What ever it is. It could be speakers, radios, something about the car. Then just by making the exams, you would theoretically become an expert on the car. Then finish off the job with tools and the materials you need to complete it. That is education. Does this count? Only if you’re an expert or became an expert. If you were the former mayor, dabble with it, it didn’t count. See my point?