Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

... Hawaii was called out by the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica in 2022 for letting TANF money gather dust in some dark corner instead of putting it to use helping families and children ....

... In the meantime, lawmakers have been figuring out how to bypass conventional learning about when a bill is dead. Here is one example ....

... Wealth tax, proposed simultaneously in seven states including Hawaii ....

... only one Senate committee, Ways & Means, will be entrusted with the fate of all three bills ....

... “It’s just four months of chaos" ....

... the Committee on State Taxation focuses on the impact of state taxes on businesses across the country ....

... Tax Credits were proposed for, among other things, upgrading technology infrastructure; sequestering carbon; upgrading or conversion of cesspools; being a health care preceptor; manufacturing food; providing childcare to employees; being in a creative district; producing organic food; and just being in the state while everyone else is being hammered by a carbon tax ....

... Senate Bill 362 proposes to double the tax on residential property, selling for at least $2 million ....

... the revenue that did materialize was spent in a flash ....

... We have been taxing the bejeebers out of tourists ....

... In the Senate bill, creative enterprises in a creative district would be eligible for tax credits.  The bill, however, is a little light on details ....

... The owner in the previous year paid $30,154 in property tax and got a bill for $835,710, resulting in an extremely unhappy owner ....

... Japanese celebrate a festival known as Setsubun.  While there are regional variations on how to celebrate it, many of them involve roasted beans and an Oni, or demon ....

... Our Legislature’s 2023 session is definitely cranked up now ....

... SB 1347 / HB 1049, designated GOV-01, aims to give broad tax relief to pretty much everyone in Hawaii. It does this by juicing up several credits already on the books, giving a significant boost to the standard deduction, and doubling the personal exemption amount. ...

... convince me that tax cuts are not advisable ....

... We need fixes.  Not the temporary kind ....

... the New Year is off and running and we are quaking in our boots waiting for our Legislature to reconvene, here are some of the ideas that we have been following ....

... the important thing isn’t money for the sake of money, but whether it’s being used wisely to make our lives better ....

“...You’re going to have to earn something like that....”

... Otherwise, the money goes back to the general fund ....

... Green's top priorities for his first 100 days in office ....

... Truth Goes Through Three Stages ....

... We, as taxpayers who are supplying the money, have the right to see where it goes. In real time, not several years later as seen in one nonprofit’s recent fight with the Department of Education ....

"... it is essentially a budgeting gimmick ...."

... One thing we all need to remember is how we got to this point ....

... a typical residential building permit application took 108 days to process, while one for a commercial project took 432 days ....

... The idea seems to be gaining steam now since our federal court has struck down Honolulu’s recent ordinance clamping down on transient vacation rentals ....

... the “dedication” of the funding source is often porous ....

... we gained a few high-income individuals but lost more of those folks scraping to make ends meet ....

... $37,000 of shortfall per taxpayer ....

... The most recent and visible example is our iconic Aloha Stadium .... 

... On June 30, 2025, any of this money not contractually committed will drop back into our state general fund ....

... Hawaii Department of Transportation has been studying implementation of a Road Usage Charge ....

... Not considering charter schools, enrollment dropped from 168,152 in 2018-19 to 156,518 in 2022-23, and it is projected to decrease further to 148,096 by 2027-28 ....

... support grew when rental cars are charged a higher rate than residents ....

... the average time to process a residential building permit application was 108 days, while a commercial project took 432 days ....

... Honolulu is 75% higher in taxes than the second most tourist-taxed city in the world ....

... in excess of $579,000 once fringe benefits are factored in ....

... Why don’t we just get rid of it? ....

... The three Democratic candidates for governor all support it ....

... According to the Hawaii Physician Shortage Crisis Task Force, taxes are one of the reason for the shortage ....

... with the current licensing requirements in place the workers won’t be able to work here until they get through a bunch of bureaucratic red tape.  The state of emergency could be used to bypass the licensing requirements ....

... In a case named For Our Rights vs. Ige, the Intermediate Court of Appeals held that there was nothing wrong with what the Administration did ....

... folks who seem to rank high on the milking list:  tourists....

... Tax Department wanted get a piece of the UH research grants ....

... “2022’s Best and Worst State Economies.”  In that site, our humble little state had lots of reasons to be humble, coming in at a bottom-scraping 48th ....

... Maui County proposes to spend more than One Billion Dollars in this fiscal year, a 26% increase over last fiscal year ....

... how Hawaii compares on the ten most common household bills ....

... Whether it be a bake sale, benefit dinner, or a silent auction, any income from an activity the primary purpose for which is raising money is GET taxable ....