TAX MAN: Empty home tax tug-of-war
Many of us were following the progress of the City and County of Honolulu’s proposal for an Empty Homes Tax, which we wrote about here and here, and felt relieved when the City Council deferred the matter on Wednesday, December 11.
TAX MAN: Save on your taxes with qualified charitable distributions
I’m sometimes asked, “What’s the biggest break that today’s tax code gives us?”
TAX MAN: Here’s to a productive 2025 legislative session
The last month of the year has begun. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and its variants are behind us. And the 2025 legislative session is approaching with blinding speed.
TAX MAN: Deferred maintenance leads to degraded services
One of the problems that has plagued Hawaii governments at all levels is “deferred maintenance.” Simply put, it means there’s stuff broken and there isn’t presently money to fix it, so it has to stay broken until some future time when the money is available.
TAX MAN: Brush up on our legislative history
In my role with the Tax Foundation of Hawaii and in private practice as a lawyer, I often have occasion to visit the Capitol website, capitol.hawaii.gov, to do research. The more I have gotten to know the site, the more I understand that it has a great deal of resources to do legislative research.
TAX MAN: Charging convenience fees for our kids
Back in the Dark Ages when I was going to public school here in Honolulu, I could get my school lunch for a quarter. An extra half-pint carton of milk was a dime. Nowadays, a school lunch costs $2.75 for most kids, and for those who qualify for low-income treatment, it costs 40 cents.
TAX MAN: Autocorrect makes the mistake, but you pay up!
Most of us with smartphones are aware of the “autocorrect” feature that sometimes can be a great help, at other times a major annoyance.
TAX MAN: I. T. E. M. (Incompetence Takes Everyone’s Money)
Our latest major government snafu comes to us courtesy of the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE). Their teachers are underpaid enough as is, but through some mysterious turns of events, they wound up stiffing hundreds of teachers for multiple pay periods.
TAX MAN: Raise your awareness with the Hawaii Budget Primer 2024
This week we wanted to bring special attention to a 32-page pamphlet recently published by the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, simply called “Hawaii Budget Primer 2024-25.”
TAX MAN: State workers have immunity – even without being Trump
As we watched the current Presidential election campaign this year, a decision popped out of the U.S. Supreme Court that made some of our eyes glaze over. It was about Presidential immunity, and the decision said that the President of our country has the right to do certain things without worrying about civil liability or criminal prosecution for those things later.
TAX MAN: The constitutional amendment returns again
Back in 2018, we as voters were inundated with impassioned arguments on both sides of a proposed constitutional amendment (“ConAm” for short). The amendment would have given the State the power to impose a surcharge on real property tax, ostensibly to fund teacher pay raises.
TAX MAN: The state of Hawai‘i is hoarding school impact fees
Here in Hawai‘i, our Department of Education is unique in several respects.
TAX MAN: Oh BOI, more red tape come tax time for all
A new reporting requirement has kicked in this year, and lots of people will be affected.
TAX MAN: More tax hikes coming, tourists takes the brunt
It isn’t very far into the new year, but already the tax hike proposals have begun.
TAX MAN: After COVID-19 restaurants getting cooked in the U.S.
A number of restaurants are in a pinch recently. Here’s what happened to them.
TAX MAN: Merry wet Christmas for Honolulu Board of Water Supply
In late November, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) approved a Christmas present for itself – a five-year schedule of rate increases that result in the cost of water in Honolulu going up by about 50 percent. Two of the increases take place in 2024, one in February and one in July, so Honolulu consumers will be subjected to a double whammy next year.
TAX MAN: Not spending for school facility improvements
In this space, we have been writing a lot about grief caused by spending taxpayer money unwisely.
TAX MAN: Population: Hawai‘i losing people by the thousands
This week, we get to look at Census numbers, distilled and brought to us by Pacific Business News, that tell us whether we gained or lost people during 2021-2022.
TAX MAN: Wholesaling: What you don’t know about the rate
Every so often, we at the Foundation are asked about Hawaii tax laws. A couple of recent inquiries focused on when the “Wholesale Rate” in the Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET) kicks in.
TAX MAN: Owning property in a Hawai‘i burn zone
These days, there is much talk in the news about rebuilding the burn zone that was once Lahaina. Can the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i be restored to its former 1800’s glory?