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Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'
Sunday, February 20, 2022 |
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We Have a Health Care Crisis – And Our Taxes Aren’t Helping
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1643 Views :: Health Care, Taxes
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... Medicare will only reimburse medical work at “reasonable charges” and will not reimburse the doctors for the GET they have to pay ....
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Sunday, February 13, 2022 |
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DHHL, Spend Your Money!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1946 Views :: DHHL
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... It’s 2022, and the agency is still working on 2014 and 2015 money ....
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Sunday, February 6, 2022 |
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Tax Hikes Still on the Table
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1996 Views :: Taxes
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... Hold on to your wallet ....
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Sunday, January 30, 2022 |
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The Future of Blankety Blank
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2160 Views :: Ethics, Taxes
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... Want to pass one of these bills? Go ahead, make my day! ....
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Sunday, January 23, 2022 |
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Spotlight on Retirement Income
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2742 Views :: Taxes
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... Their recommendation: “Tax pension and other retirement income...."
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Sunday, January 16, 2022 |
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Under the Big Top
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 3541 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... With this kind of money projected to come in the door, politicians of all stripes are staying up nights plotting and planning how to spend it ....
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Wednesday, January 12, 2022 |
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Hawaii Tax Foundation to Host 2022 Legislative Briefing series
By Tom Yamachika @ 9:51 PM :: 1857 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... The 2022 Legislative Briefings will be held via Zoom on the following Tuesdays from 7:30 am- 8:30 am ....
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Sunday, January 9, 2022 |
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TANF Hoarding
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2278 Views :: Family, Hawaii State Government
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... So what have we done with the federal TANF money? We’ve let it pile up unused ....
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Sunday, January 2, 2022 |
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Considering a Carbon Tax with Rebates
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2078 Views :: Environment, Tax Credits, Taxes
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... This is not the only recommendation the Tax Review Commission came up with ....
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Sunday, December 26, 2021 |
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More on 'Green Fees'
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1937 Views :: Environment, Taxes
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... a chance to get in front of lawmakers and argue that we aren’t being taxed enough ....
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Sunday, December 19, 2021 |
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The New County TAT Earmarks Aren’t the Real Problem
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2070 Views :: Rail, Taxes, Tourism
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... these debates are meaningless ....
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Sunday, December 12, 2021 |
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Foreign Trade Zone Kerfuffle
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1769 Views :: Small Business, Taxes
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... DoTax wants years of back GE Taxes ....
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Sunday, December 5, 2021 |
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Ending Government by Fiat
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1866 Views :: Hawaii State Government, COVID-19
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... a “state of emergency,” which causes the Governor’s powers to kick in, is supposed to terminate automatically after sixty days ....
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Sunday, November 28, 2021 |
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Tax Isn’t a Peanut Butter Cup
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2759 Views :: Honolulu County, Energy, Land Use, Taxes
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... Once upon a time there were some property developers on Oahu ....
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Sunday, November 21, 2021 |
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Tax Workers’ “Get Out of Jail Free” Card
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2225 Views :: Law Enforcement, Taxes
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... In more recent years, the Hawaii Supreme Court has been giving the tax office even more help and protection ....
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Sunday, November 14, 2021 |
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NOT the End of Gut-n-Replace
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2245 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... A person challenging a bill still needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the bill is unconstitutional. And remember, it took a 3-2 vote to hold that recidivism and hurricane shelters are unrelated ....
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Sunday, November 7, 2021 |
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Hike Traffic Fines for Profit
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2097 Views :: Honolulu County, Police
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... The Honolulu City Council wants to raise money for the Honolulu Police Department by adding a surcharge to traffic fines ....
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Sunday, October 31, 2021 |
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The Perils of Being a Watch Doggie
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3091 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, OHA
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... The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent ....
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Sunday, October 24, 2021 |
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Where Is the Value from Taxes?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1542 Views :: Taxes
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... So now let’s pose a challenge ....
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Sunday, October 17, 2021 |
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No, DOE, You’re Not God
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2482 Views :: Education K-12, Labor, COVID-19
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... DOE told HSTA the Governor’s Emergency Proclamation suspends Hawaii law governing collective bargaining in public employment ....
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Sunday, October 10, 2021 |
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HART Makes Up Its Voting Rules
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2912 Views :: Ethics, Rail, Taxes, Tourism
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... The memo concludes that the State did not have the power under the Hawaii Constitution to provide for four extra HART board members. Thus, we can basically ignore the extra folks and conduct business as if they weren’t around ....
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Sunday, October 3, 2021 |
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What can Hawaii Learn from Tax Reform in the Cornhusker State?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1657 Views :: Taxes
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... “Growing the Good Life Begins Here” ....
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Sunday, September 26, 2021 |
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Tax Planning with the Rich and Famous
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1724 Views :: Taxes
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... “Those people have at their disposal so many ways to flummox the tax authorities if they want to. Panamanian bearer shares corporations. Dutch sandwiches. Entities from the Isle of Man, the Caymans, or Bermuda perhaps.” ....
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Sunday, September 12, 2021 |
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Vacant Homes Tax?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 8622 Views :: Honolulu County, Taxes
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... How does some bureaucrat sitting in the real property tax office have any idea whether a property is vacant? ....
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Sunday, September 5, 2021 |
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Counties, You’re TAT Collectors Now
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2141 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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... HB 862 makes no provision whatsoever for joint collection. The counties are on their own ....
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Sunday, August 29, 2021 |
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Can Raising a Tax Lose Money?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1643 Views :: Taxes
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... One fundamental assumption that has been made over the years by our lawmakers is that if you enact a tax, money will be raised. What if that weren’t true? ....
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Sunday, August 22, 2021 |
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Have We Unwittingly Put the Brakes on HART?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2323 Views :: Rail
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...What you might not have seen is the difficulty the HART board is having making decisions....
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Sunday, August 15, 2021 |
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The Time Tax
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2153 Views :: Small Business, Taxes
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... government not only taxes people by taking their money, but also imposes administrative burdens that waste countless precious hours of people’s time ....
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Sunday, August 8, 2021 |
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A Policy Statement About Fines
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3081 Views :: Honolulu County, Development, Law Enforcement
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... Bill 17 would allow the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting to record liens against property and then to foreclose on the liens....
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Sunday, August 1, 2021 |
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Property Forfeitures and What Our AG is Doing About Them
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2402 Views :: Ethics, Law Enforcement
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... property may be forfeited without a court hearing, without compensation, and at times, without even a criminal charge filed against the property owner. ...
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Sunday, July 25, 2021 |
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Special Land and Development Fund, Revisited
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3075 Views :: Ethics, Land Use, OHA
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... rent for the property was $100,000 while subleases of the same property brought in $300,000 ....
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Sunday, July 18, 2021 |
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Shoring Up Water Transportation
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3054 Views :: Jones Act, Small Business, Cost of Living
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... On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued the “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” There wasn’t much media coverage ....
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Sunday, July 11, 2021 |
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Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2342 Views :: Taxes, COVID-19
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... Does our government overreach? Yes. Why does it do that? Because we let them ....
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Wednesday, July 7, 2021 |
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Vetoes and Overrides!
By Tom Yamachika @ 7:17 PM :: 2026 Views :: Taxes
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... HB58 “Enola Gay Frankenbill” really is dead this time ....
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Sunday, July 4, 2021 |
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Intent to Veto--the Enola Gay Frankenbill
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2447 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... Hopefully, the bad stuff will die and remain dead ....
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Sunday, June 27, 2021 |
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Secret Tax Relief for Hotels on Maui?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3261 Views :: Maui County, Ethics, Taxes, Tourism
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“...the coronavirus pandemic has challenged the County to make many unprecedented decisions. One such decision was to reduce the Assessed Values of Hotel and Resort properties due to the catastrophic drops in occupancy experienced by that industry....”
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Sunday, June 20, 2021 |
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Showdown of the Juggernauts
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1784 Views :: Taxes
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... Taxing Income in the New World of Teleworking ....
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Sunday, June 13, 2021 |
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Taxing Government Largesse
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2810 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, COVID-19
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...“Landlords are subject to GET on these amounts whether the payments are received from the tenants or directly from the agency that administers the relief program on behalf of the tenant.” The same reasoning applies to income tax, federal and state....
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Sunday, June 6, 2021 |
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Enjoying Your Maui Resort Condo? Now Pay Up!
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2732 Views :: Maui County, Taxes
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... Some taxpayers on Maui are getting a nasty surprise this year because they didn’t do anything, and their real property tax rate doubled ....
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Sunday, May 30, 2021 |
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A Government of (Suspended) Laws, Not Men
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2204 Views :: COVID-19
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... Government should be based on clearly written laws, and not on the unpredictable will of one or even a few people ....
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Sunday, May 23, 2021 |
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Teacher Payments and the “Me Too” Syndrome
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2514 Views :: Education K-12, Labor, COVID-19
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... House Bill 613, another bill that has undergone radical metamorphosis while in our Legislature. ...
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Sunday, May 16, 2021 |
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General Excise Exemptions to be Shut Off for Two Years?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3508 Views :: Small Business, Tax Credits, Taxes
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... “Frankenbill” House Bill 58 has cleared the Legislature and is on the Governor’s desk waiting to become law ....
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Sunday, May 9, 2021 |
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State/Federal Changes in Income Tax Coming
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2483 Views :: Taxes
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... Income tax is a complicated enough subject already ....
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Sunday, May 2, 2021 |
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Counties, the TAT Is Now Your Problem Too!
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2261 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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... For many years, the counties and the State have been bickering about how much support from the State’s transient accommodations tax (TAT) they should get ....
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Sunday, April 25, 2021 |
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The Whackee Strikes Back!
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:38 PM :: 3411 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... and he pulls no punches ....
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Sunday, April 18, 2021 |
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State Auditor Facing a Whack Job?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4588 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, OHA
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... the report spends lots of time reviewing the Auditor’s recent actions involving the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ....
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Sunday, April 11, 2021 |
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Bride of Frankenbill
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2382 Views :: Taxes
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... our lawmakers are not stopping at just one Frankenbill ....
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Sunday, April 4, 2021 |
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Return of the Frankenbill!
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2630 Views :: Taxes
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... assembling bits and pieces from cadavers and then bringing it to life using some unexplained method ....
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Sunday, March 28, 2021 |
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Maintenance of Effort, Part 2
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2413 Views :: Education K-12, Taxes
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... SB815 creates a “public education stabilization trust fund” ....
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Sunday, March 21, 2021 |
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National Attention!
By Tom Yamachika @ 4:00 AM :: 3010 Views :: Taxes
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“...Confiscation in Paradise: Move to Hawaii, pay the nation’s highest state income-tax rate....”
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