Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

... Can you say 'ankle shackles?' ....

...why do we have a current state financial plan that spends more than $200 million every year over available revenues?....

...California is now trying to enact a workaround, and some Hawaii lawmakers are actively considering similar legislation....

...Ige needs to take action by March 21, 2018 to take advantage of "qualified opportunity zones"....

... “It wasn’t that long ago that I was before this same committee testifying on a very similar bill on the very same tax provision, seeking to do the very same thing....”

...In the middle of this process, sometimes a letter from the Governor arrives saying, “We need to make some adjustments...."

...Do the problems in our classrooms have anything to do with special funds at all?....

...how to adapt the new federal tax law changes to Hawaii....

...In the 2017 legislative session, our legislature passed an earned income tax credit (EITC)....

...Senate Bill 2004, tells the story of just one signalized crosswalk yet to be built....

...“math error authority” brings to mind one of the failings in Hawaii’s tax system....

...lawmakers will be asked to conform our Hawaii income tax law to the federal changes that have taken place in 2017....

...If they don’t, it will be functionally the same as raising taxes....

...the PUC has basically said that it expects the program to crash and burn....

...Recently, the Hawaii Tax Review Commission’s primary consultant, PFM Group, issued a final report to the Commission asking it to review many taxing alternatives, including a $360M per year “carbon tax” on Hawaii consumers....

...The biggest exception to this gatekeeper rule is the constitutional convention, where the people elect delegates directly....

...looking to introduce legislation to combat predatory practices by game publishers. He called Star Wars: Battlefront II, an “online casino...."

...This will give Warren Buffett et al a chance to “walk the walk” and pay millions more....

...the Tax Administration Special Fund is becoming an all-purpose slush fund for which corrective action is needed....

Should they re-evaluate their tax filings now that the Department’s litigation position is out in the public for all to see?

...The Department apparently regards the taxpayers here as lower life forms and wants to give them no respect.... 

“I object to the use of the word ‘customer.’ It certainly doesn’t feel like that type of relationship to me. Maybe ‘hostage’?”

Halloween may be over, but we still have lots of scary stories!

...Recently, the Honolulu City Council approved on first reading Bill 80 (2017), which would award a real property tax exemption to “ocean-friendly restaurants.”...

...Did DOTAX Turn the Corner on Customer Service?....

...During the past few months, the Tax Review Commission has been busy at work....

...those who buy things from Amazon and have been paying Use Tax can stop....

Over the past several months, there has been a court fight brewing that could have changed how the Department of Taxation lobbies for legislation....

...the Harbors Division isn’t satisfied with three years of triple-digit increases....

...there is "supposed to be" opportunity for participation....

...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....

...The TAT, when it was enacted in 1986, was primarily meant to fund the Hawaii Convention Center....

...People who aren’t aware of what happened may find themselves with property tax bills many times what they are now....

 ...one State department that has funds with no exemption, and refuses to pay it: the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL).... 

...the Central Services Skim has redirected about $45 million a year from the special funds to the state general fund....

...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....”

...if you don’t work, you don’t eat....

On July 10, 2017, Governor Ige proudly signed House Bill 209, a bill that establishes a Hawaii earned income tax credit.... 

...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....

...HART stunned critics by cancelling a special audit that would have examined past cost overruns....

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.... 

To what or whom should we be looking for leadership to get us out of this mess?

...retroactive tax legislation....

...fifteen senators wanted to stick their thumbs in the Governor’s eye....

...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?....

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....

On April 26, the Trump Administration released a document that contained a roadmap of sorts for an overhaul of the federal tax code....

...Shut up or we’ll make you pay for rail too....

How does a county raise money?