Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

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....

...Hawaii's power prices are among the highest in the nation as well. Not surprisingly, one of the big reasons for this is taxation....

The old saying "nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there" seems to sum up employment conditions in Hawaii....

...in 1978 when Hawaii adopted its present system of conforming to the federal Internal Revenue Code, inflation adjustments were left off the table....

What it would take to help the state create a governing and regulatory climate that would bring in more revenue without raising taxes....

When you think about paying taxes, most people seem to think that it's about the same as throwing money down a rathole....

...between 1995 and 2000 roughly 12,000 people moved from Hawaii to Nevada, and about 1,850 moved from Nevada to Hawaii....

We certainly hope that no one is thinking that the citizens of the reconstituted Kingdom living on state lands, and taking advantages of the benefits and services offered by the state and federal governments, will then claim they don’t have to pay for them....

Let’s use the discussion over this credit to help us all determine what time it is....

...something remarkable happened in the last days of our legislative session....

One feature of our legislative session is that a lot of work needs to get done in a short amount of time. When that happens, there are “oops” moments....

This week we look at the term “stable funding source.” In business, there is no such thing....

One of the bills now making its way through the Legislature concerns the motion picture, digital media, and film production tax credit....

This problem could be solved if Congress steps in....

At June 30, 2013, ERS had an “unfunded actuarial accrued liability” of about $8.4 billion. For EUTF, the number was about $18.2 billion....

Once in a while people fight with taxing agencies about their taxes....

This bill is still alive and it represents probably the largest TAX INCREASE still moving.....

Appeals officers help over 100,000 taxpayers each year resolve their tax disputes with the IRS....

A few weeks ago this column spoke out against tax credits....

Among the proposals being considered are a low-income credit; a food and excise tax credit; a low-income household renters’ credit; an earned income tax credit; and a special tax credit for seniors....

When you and I pay our taxes, we probably expect that the money we pay in will be used toward any and all legitimate financial needs of the state....

Recently the mayors of our four large counties all got together in what has been described as their annual pilgrimage to the legislature....

There was only one Lowell Kalapa, and he is now in a place where there are no taxes....