Entries for 'Lowell L Kalapa'

things have not changed at the State Capitol....

...tax paying constituents are paying more than they have to as they are paying for not only the county services they enjoy but for those same services used by those who do not pay for those services....

Probably the most controversial recommendation that the Honolulu Real Property Tax Advisory Commission has made in its recently submitted report is to repeal the tried and true exemption for homeowners.

While they may have thought they were going to raise additional income with these higher rates on “rich” individuals, what they failed to realize is that these are the very people who probably took advantage of the very generous high technology tax credits and they will have little, or no, tax liability as a result of the offset of the tax credits.

Yet another task force has come forward to recommend that lawmakers raise the “barrel tax” on all imported petroleum products by another dollar per barrel....

Kohala Sugar was one of the first sugar operations that failed and state government decided it could save jobs by stepping in with all sorts of ideas to replace the agricultural activity.... millions of state dollars literally went down the drain.

Another consideration is the amount of participation that will be needed to make a gaming industry a lucrative source of public revenue.... Will the cost, time and distance be attractive enough to gamble in Hawaii?

...forecasts made by the tax department weren’t very reliable. In fact, it was pointed out that the department’s numbers included revenues from taxing the sales of sugar from independent sugar growers, sugar growers who have not been around for nearly two decades....

Coming under fire in the City & County of Honolulu is the plethora of real property tax exemptions from those granted to charitable organizations to those offered to homeowners who promise to preserve their historical residences to credit unions and to churches....

Because of its broad application, any attempt to raise the general excise tax rate alerts the entire population to that possibility....

For years, the real property burden was shifted to businesses, but businesses have to pass the costs onto their customers. When it comes to paying for government, there is no free lunch.

The state’s official coven of wizards, the Council on Revenues, generally uses various economic indicators to shape their forecast of general fund tax revenues for the current fiscal year and six years beyond.

As the largest source of general fund tax revenues, it is crucial that administrators, as well as practitioners, understand the underlying philosophy of the general excise tax ....

Tax experts, public finance gurus, and public administrators preach that a good tax system is one that has a broad base that will allow a low rate to be imposed.

...in the rush to encourage all sorts of new technologies, the legislation left the “barn door” wide open to interpretation and application that it appears to have opened the flood gates in allowing all sorts of claims to be filed and awarded....

The bulk of the $14 trillion debt the nation has borrowed is from other nations.

Here we go again with another round of spending in an attempt to convince voters that the national leadership knows what they are doing.

...for the national Tax Foundation study to proclaim that Hawaii’s general excise tax rate is the lowest of all the retail sales tax rates is misleading and uninformed....

Initially set at a rate of 1.5%, it rose to a rate of 2% during the war years, and then just prior to statehood in 1959 to a retail rate of 3.5%. ...the retail rate was increased in 4% in 1965....

...people who would otherwise be considered at poverty level are paying Hawaii state income taxes on what little taxable income they receive. One would think that the Tax Review Commission would be the perfect venue for a discussion of that anomaly....

Should the additional revenues expected from the tax law changes adopted this past legislative session not materialize, will elected officials once more resort to tax increases to balance the budget or will they find ways to reduce government expenditures to match what the economy is able to produce?

Those who were not so fortunate to take advantage of many of these tax incentives can tip their hats to those who did take advantage of the tax credits and other tax breaks as they laughed all the way to the bank....

One quick fix being touted by the administration to create the jobs America needs and so desperately wants is a continuance of the employment tax holiday....

 It will now be up to the “super” commission to come up with a strategy or game plan that will set a course for the financial affairs of the nation.

While we may benefit from those generous federal dollars and programs, if spending is not reined in now, the situation will get even worse. If political leaders don’t have the courage to rein in spending, then perhaps voters should find elected officials who will make those tough decisions.

...the fact that the energy utilities and, to some degree the communications utilities, have to pay these additional taxes is not very widely known....

The Gordian knot that seems to be confronting public officials is how to keep the state and county governments solvent while avoiding either having to make deep cuts in public services or, on the other hand, raising taxes and fees that will infuriate the tax paying public.

Here in Hawaii it seems that taxpayers suffer from a glut of omniscient soothsayers in elected office who believe they know it all and can predict the winner industry of the future....

...in Hawaii the tax incentives and the executive order to blend all fuel merely increased the cost for the highway user and shifted the export of consumer dollars from the oil fields of the Middle East and Indonesia to the sugar fields of Brazil. And because of the lost tax revenues, taxpayers had to forego tax relief....

One reader recently wrote bemoaning that he had to read these comments about how taxpayers are constantly being overtaxed and his suggestion is that those who can pay their fair share should do so, “just pay up.”

...Those credits were then followed by the now infamous Act 221 tax credits that were designed to attract investment funds to underwrite the high technology industry as it was difficult for start-up companies to attract investors. But the generous tax credits made it more of a boondoggle than a true tax incentive that invited participation....