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Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'
Sunday, October 15, 2017 |
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Incentives for Retirement Savings
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4064 Views :: Taxes
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...During the past few months, the Tax Review Commission has been busy at work....
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Sunday, October 8, 2017 |
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If You're Still Paying Use Tax on Amazon Purchases--Stop
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5193 Views :: Taxes
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...those who buy things from Amazon and have been paying Use Tax can stop....
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Sunday, October 1, 2017 |
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Fritz v. Department of Taxation, and Why You Should Care
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4849 Views :: Ethics, Taxes
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Over the past several months, there has been a court fight brewing that could have changed how the Department of Taxation lobbies for legislation....
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Sunday, September 24, 2017 |
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Harbors Division Soaking the Taxpayer – Again and Again
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6503 Views :: Jones Act, OHA, Small Business
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...the Harbors Division isn’t satisfied with three years of triple-digit increases....
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Sunday, September 17, 2017 |
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Legislature with U R Missing
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4713 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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...there is "supposed to be" opportunity for participation....
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Sunday, September 10, 2017 |
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Rail: Heads We Win, Tails You Lose
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6421 Views :: Rail, Taxes
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...The special session rail bill, SB 4, provides that if the Foundation wins and the State is ordered to refund money to the City, then the State will scoop the same amount of money from the City’s share of transient accommodations tax....
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Sunday, September 3, 2017 |
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Rail: I Dunno About TAT
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6883 Views :: Rail, Taxes, Tourism
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...The TAT, when it was enacted in 1986, was primarily meant to fund the Hawaii Convention Center....
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Sunday, August 27, 2017 |
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Honolulu: For 1000s Property Tax Rate Will Quadruple Sept 1
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 7218 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes
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...People who aren’t aware of what happened may find themselves with property tax bills many times what they are now....
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Sunday, August 20, 2017 |
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The Grand Skim of Things, Part 3
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5380 Views :: DHHL, Hawaii State Government
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...one State department that has funds with no exemption, and refuses to pay it: the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL)....
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Sunday, August 13, 2017 |
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The Grand Skim of Things, Part 2
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4055 Views :: Hawaii State Government
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...the Central Services Skim has redirected about $45 million a year from the special funds to the state general fund....
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Sunday, August 6, 2017 |
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The Grand Skim of Things (Part 1)
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6494 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Rail, Taxes
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...A Hawaii law dating back to 1955, which now can be found at HRS section 36-27, says that 5% of any special fund’s income will be paid to the state general fund to pay “central service expenses....”
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Sunday, July 30, 2017 |
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No Hanahana -- Kaukau Anyway
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5599 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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...if you don’t work, you don’t eat....
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Sunday, July 23, 2017 |
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EITC: Devil in the Details
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4075 Views :: Taxes
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On July 10, 2017, Governor Ige proudly signed House Bill 209, a bill that establishes a Hawaii earned income tax credit....
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Sunday, July 16, 2017 |
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How Rail Bonds Can Help Put Local Politicians in Jail
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5463 Views :: Ethics, Rail
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...City officials were accused of certifying financial statements in 2002 and 2003 that were false because they failed to disclose that the city was purposely underfunding....
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Sunday, July 9, 2017 |
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Mucking Around in the Past?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 4794 Views :: Ethics, Rail
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...HART stunned critics by cancelling a special audit that would have examined past cost overruns....
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Sunday, July 2, 2017 |
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Carving Up the Price of Car Rentals
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5215 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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One of the legislative bills that is now being considered by Gov. David Ige is a curious bill, HB 735, involving the car rental industry....
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Sunday, June 25, 2017 |
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Anatomy of Epic Fail on Rail
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5217 Views :: Rail, Taxes
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To what or whom should we be looking for leadership to get us out of this mess?
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Sunday, June 18, 2017 |
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Closing an Estate Tax Loophole?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:05 AM :: 4228 Views :: Taxes
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Sunday, June 11, 2017 |
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Reaching Back into the Past
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:01 AM :: 3425 Views :: Taxes
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...retroactive tax legislation....
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Sunday, June 4, 2017 |
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Human Casualties at the Legislature, Part 2
By Tom Yamachika @ 11:31 PM :: 7475 Views :: Energy, Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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...fifteen senators wanted to stick their thumbs in the Governor’s eye....
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Sunday, May 28, 2017 |
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Human Casualties at the Legislature
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:09 AM :: 5814 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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...If there is a position taken by a committee chair on one bill or one issue that is not reflecting the wishes of the committee, why can't the committee simply reject the chair's recommendation?....
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Sunday, May 21, 2017 |
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GEMS: A Raid by Any Other Name…
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6527 Views :: Education K-12, Energy, Taxes
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GEMS, as a program, has been a miserable failure, resulting primarily in a large wad of cash that is just sitting in the bank. That’s why our legislature got the bright idea to “use” it to prop up another miserable failure – the “Cool the Schools” initiative....
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Sunday, May 14, 2017 |
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TrumpTax: Losing the State Tax Deduction
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3754 Views :: Taxes
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On April 26, the Trump Administration released a document that contained a roadmap of sorts for an overhaul of the federal tax code....
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Sunday, May 7, 2017 |
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The Rail Bill and Other Curiosities
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 7597 Views :: Homelessness, Labor, Rail, Taxes
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...Shut up or we’ll make you pay for rail too....
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Sunday, April 30, 2017 |
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Making Money at the County Level
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:01 AM :: 4479 Views :: Taxes
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How does a county raise money?
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Sunday, April 23, 2017 |
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IRS: Hawaii Legislature Voted to Destroy Employee Retirement System
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 10229 Views :: Maui County, Health Care, Labor, Taxes
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IRS Ruling: Act 1 Cash Payout to HGEA members would cost ERS its nonprofit status ....
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Sunday, April 16, 2017 |
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Tax Casualty? Maui County Carnival
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6548 Views :: Maui County, Jones Act, Taxes
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The 2nd Annual Maui County Carnival, scheduled for April 6-9, 2017, has been cancelled. Skyrocketing state government fees have been blamed....
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Sunday, April 9, 2017 |
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CreditAbles
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5140 Views :: Tax Credits, Taxes
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Terms being bandied about include exemptions, deductions, and tax credits, and among tax credits there are the “CreditAbles” – refundable, nonrefundable, and assignable credits.....
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Sunday, April 2, 2017 |
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Economic Nexus: Solving the Online Tax Dodge
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3911 Views :: Taxes
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...SB 620 would redefine how our general excise tax laws define “doing business”....
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Sunday, March 26, 2017 |
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Yes, Toto, Tourists Also Pay Real Property Tax
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6465 Views :: Education K-12, Labor, Taxes
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...this study appeared to be an outgrowth of a move by our teachers’ union....
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Sunday, March 19, 2017 |
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A Constitutional Amendment for Education Wars, Part 2
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 5230 Views :: Education K-12, Taxes
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...two bills are moving through the legislature on this subject....
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Sunday, March 12, 2017 |
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A Constitutional Amendment for Education Wars
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 6298 Views :: Education K-12, Labor, Taxes
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The "shall make sufficient sums available" language is used in one more place in our constitution. It's in Article XII, Section 1, relating to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands....
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Sunday, March 5, 2017 |
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One Integrated Approach to Tax Fairness?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 3641 Views :: Taxes
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House Bill 1586 is a multi-faceted bill that seeks to change some of the characteristics of our tax system....
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Sunday, February 26, 2017 |
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Hawaii Legislature Obamacare Heavy
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5682 Views :: Health Care, Taxes
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...the amount of the penalty could be as much as $695 x 2 adults plus $695 x ½ x 3 kids = $2,432.50....
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Sunday, February 19, 2017 |
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The Need for Tax Vigilance in 2017
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4164 Views :: Taxes
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The sheer number of bills related to tax or public finance is staggering. It's much more frenetic this year than in any other year I've been in this position....
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Sunday, February 12, 2017 |
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UHERO Slams the Skim
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5620 Views :: Rail, Taxes
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...the State is making a ton of money off the skim....
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Sunday, February 5, 2017 |
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Unfunded Pensions – Tip of the Iceberg?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 6211 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Labor, Taxes
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Is a 7% return on investment sustainable into the future? Another organization that studied the issue said that a more realistic rate of return would be the “risk-free” rate, which they calculated at 2.344%....
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Sunday, January 29, 2017 |
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Peek-A-Boo -- I See Your Tax Return
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3783 Views :: Ethics
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Would the proponents of this bill be willing to demonstrate their endorsement of that policy by producing their own tax returns for all to see?
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Sunday, January 22, 2017 |
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Funding Nonexistent People
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 6327 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Labor, Taxes
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...our state government paid half a million dollars in pension payments to people who were already dead. Well, then, what do you think of budgeting many times that amount for people who don’t even exist?....
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Sunday, January 15, 2017 |
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Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5139 Views :: Jones Act, Taxes
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On December 13, 2016, Governor Ige signed off on, and thereby finalized, significant increases in fees charged by the Department of Transportation Harbors Division....
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Sunday, January 8, 2017 |
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What's Next for Marijuana Tax?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5363 Views :: Taxes, Drugs
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... legislators are considering a special, higher GET rate for marijuana, but haven’t decided upon that rate yet ....
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Sunday, January 1, 2017 |
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Ige’s Billion Dollar Psych-Out
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5002 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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...the Ige Administration has been meeting with the unions....
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Sunday, December 25, 2016 |
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Can the Unions Dodge the Law?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 6960 Views :: Health Care, Labor, Law Enforcement
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Earlier this year, our lawmakers passed Act 25. It bans smoking on the premises of our state-owned hospitals....
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Sunday, December 18, 2016 |
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Hawaii Retroactive Tax Hikes Every Year
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 5638 Views :: Hawaii History, Taxes
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People get viscerally upset when you tell them they need to follow a rule they didn't know and couldn't have known....
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Sunday, December 11, 2016 |
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Taxes Reaching Back into the Past?
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 3800 Views :: Taxes
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If Dot Foods loses, none of us is safe....
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Sunday, December 4, 2016 |
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Coordinated Action Needed to Address Homelessness
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4416 Views :: Homelessness
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Coordinated action is not what our government normally does....
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Sunday, November 27, 2016 |
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Zombie States – Hawaii Is No. 6
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:37 AM :: 4528 Views :: Hawaii State Government
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...financially “dead” but are somehow shambling on....
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Sunday, November 20, 2016 |
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What TrumpTax May Mean For Hawaii
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:08 AM :: 4326 Views :: Taxes
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The result of the general election earlier this month raises the possibility of a high magnitude shake-up in our federal tax system....
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Sunday, November 13, 2016 |
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Tax Appeal Court Strikes Down Honolulu’s “Residential A”
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:01 AM :: 4483 Views :: Taxes
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...the classification ran afoul of three protections that the U.S. Constitution, and, to some extent, the Hawaii Constitution, provide under the Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause....
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Sunday, November 6, 2016 |
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When Is an Interstate Agreement Not an Agreement?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:01 AM :: 3566 Views :: Taxes
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For a very long time, states have been wrestling with the problem of how much to tax entities operating in more than one state....
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