Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

Special funds are pots of money....

...we don’t want to inflict a disproportionate amount of pain on our friends....

...many common vegetables contain nicotine....

By adding a resort fee of $25 to a room rate of $125, the hotel brings in $150 per night but it can advertise a $125 room rate....

...if you are a taxpayer with questions and you call the Hawaii Department of Taxation’s customer service line, there is a more than 50% chance that your call won’t be answered. At all....

...what actually goes into this “unfunded liability” calculation....

...three big issues that are holding us back in international competitiveness....

A double standard on an important issue like this is a great way to breed derision and distrust of government....

A few days ago, the United States Tax Court decided a case that is important to small business owners....

HB145 has quite a history. It started as a bill to limit the tobacco tax on large cigars to 50 cents per cigar....

...we are getting closer to a resolution on the two bills that are seeking to extend the life of the 0.5% Oahu county surcharge on our general excise tax....

...They were under the impression that the bond sale process needed to begin by June 30 of this year. “No,” said the Department of Attorney General, “the law says that the bond sale needs to be DONE by June 30.”...

...the State used to administer the property tax back in the dark ages until the 1978 Constitutional Convention....

...if HB1471 passes we are looking at a total tax of $53.2 million, which is an increase of about 25%....

... hundreds of little (and in some cases, not so little) pots of money sprinkled throughout Hawaii's departments, agencies, and other governmental units ....

In Hawaii a number of us are fascinated with gambling....

The Legislature is considering several bills that would add increases or surcharges to the Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET)....

...we are exporting around 15%-20% of our general excise tax....

Sales taxes in most states leave rent alone, but our General Excise Tax (GET) taxes it....

...HB1307, introduced by Rep Kaniela Ing, raises income taxes on middle class families by 12%....

All state income tax systems in the United States, including ours, have a set of rules that are used to figure out which state has the primary right to tax income....

...the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has released a report. ranking the states in terms of how progressive their tax systems are....

The state has been draining money out of the rail surcharge. Lots of money....

...According to a report by the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, it lifts more families out of poverty than any other federal policy....

...In 2005, a survey asked a sample of 1,000 adult Americans what would be the most practical way for them to accumulate several hundred thousand dollars....

...“policy measures and costs impacting small business and entrepreneurship.”....

Recently he made news by publicly saying he absolutely won’t pay his U.S. taxes....

...when a Hawaii taxpayer reaches $200,000 in federal adjusted gross income, a number of bad things happen that, in total, can result in a marginal tax rate of 367,100% on that last dollar....

We continue our series of pending U.S. Supreme Court cases....

Under the TBOR, tax increases and significant government borrowing had to be presented to the voters before they could take effect....

The Tax Foundation just released its 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index....

Big names in the market are Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar....

Other states don’t have anything like these exceptions....

...Hawaii fell eight rungs from last year, tying the great state of New Jersey for the honor of being the least improved state....

As of June 30, 2013, Hawaii’s 11% top individual rate was second only to California....

Elections are happening every day. People are constantly voting, with their dollars and with their feet....

...the study ranked Hawaii’s tax system 49th out of 50, in the order of fairness....

This week’s illustration of how timing is important involves the Hawaii Renewable Energy Technologies credit....

...poor timing can lead to tremendously bad results in Hawaii's tax system....

...State governments, including ours, are increasingly using targeted benefits, such as tax credits and exemptions, to attract companies....

What qualifies as real estate for REIT purposes is an issue that recently has been in the news....

Mr. and Mrs. Stocker waited until the day their taxes were due....

Airline passengers are considered an easy group to tax....

...Department of Taxation employees were able to answer the phone only 59% of the time in 2013....

...Our Hawaii Supreme Court said that it reaches "virtually every economic activity imaginable"....

...“inversion” occurs when a U.S. company merges with a foreign company and moves its headquarters to the foreign country....

...the CLEAR facility is located at UH West Oahu, and that campus testifies that it is okay with scrapping the CLEAR fund....