Monday, March 18, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, June 13, 2012
DoH to Grab 50% More Bottle Deposit Money
By Selected News Articles @ 1:50 AM :: 5559 Views :: Energy, Environment

An Update From No Hawaii Beverage Tax

From www.NoHawaiiBeverageTax.com

Aloha!

The 2012 state legislative session has come to a close, and once again the beverage tax was defeated! This is a big victory for the No Hawaii Beverage Tax coalition – and we wouldn’t have been successful without your support. Lawmakers have pledged to reopen the tax issue in 2013, so there is much work to be done over the next year.

The legislature has even put in place an “Obesity Task Force” that will meet during the rest of the year to come up with “solutions” to the obesity problem – which will probably include a recommendation for a beverage tax in the 2013 legislative session.

Also, the state Department of Health is expected to increase the deposit container handling fee by 50% on September 1 – to 1 ½ cent per container. We think enough is enough!

Residents of the Aloha State already have a high tax burden, and a tax on sweetened beverages would not just hit consumers in their wallets, it would also hit the folks who work in the corner stores, the drivers who deliver drinks across the islands, and the people working in our state’s bottling plants. Our lawmakers should spend more time worrying about jobs and less time worrying about what we buy at the grocery store.

We know that the government telling us what to eat and drink is a bad deal, and we'll need your help over the next year to again tell the legislature — No Hawaii Beverage Tax! Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and urge your friends to join the coalition at www.NoHawaiiBeverageTax.com

   *   *   *   *   *

Few favor recycling fee hike while State Paying for Non-Existent Containers

SA June 17, 2012: Hawaii's recycling rate has averaged roughly 75 percent over the past four years, compared with less than 30 percent before the program started in 2005…. (or has it?)

Higa's 2005 audit, which covered the first six months of the program, described a financial system in which transactions were not properly recorded, records were in disarray and the resulting environment was "ripe for abuse." The program typically collects more than $50 million annually in deposits and handling fees.

Legislators have raised similar concerns. The House this year passed a resolution urging DOH not to increase the handling fee until Higa completed an updated management and financial audit. No House member voted against the measure. (The only person who favors the fee hike is Reynolds Recycling…. must want to dissapate the pressure for an audit.)

"It's completely unfair to consumers and distributors," said Michelle Tang, distribution center manager for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Hawaii. "This fee increase is just a tax hike in disguise."

… the department still hasn't changed at least one of the major flaws Higa identified. She noted that payments made to recycling centers in 2005 were based on unverified numbers, creating the potential for the state to be paying for nonexistent containers.

More than six years later, the payment system is largely unchanged, relying on unverified claims, not the actual quantity of containers recycled and shipped elsewhere for processing into other products, department officials acknowledge.

"DOH has in some cases found significant differences between the number of containers claimed for deposit refunds and the number of containers reportedly shipped later," the department wrote in a December report to the Legislature….

read … More Thieves Looting the Taxpayer

 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT