Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

...employers are likely to be hit with a significant and automatic rate increase at the end of this year....

...Tax Foundation of Hawaii, urged the Legislature to adopt key provisions of the CARES Act although it became law in 2020. DoTAX, in testimony, proposed to adopt a few provisions and leave others on the cutting room floor....

...For tax benefits, the pendulum has started swinging in the other direction as well....

...unemployment insurance and how it is going to fare after the pandemic....

...Ige's COVID order suspends law requiring that people who want to do business with the State or municipal governments need to be current with their state and federal taxes....

... Can we afford to take the risk of building a new stadium with an entertainment center that may become a financial white elephant like our convention center? ....

...another general excise tax exemption that the State Auditor has put under the microscope....

...Carl Bonham told lawmakers that we’re going to lose another 30,000 people in just two years. A more pessimistic scenario assumes we are going to lose that 30,000 people in ONE year....

...tinkering with the tax code to raise more money has the effect of putting the brakes on what little spin we have left on our economic engine....

...figuring out how to spend $1 billion of federal money that is being made available to Hawaii under the CARES Act....

...the State Auditor has been busy at work trying to find options for legislators to consider for getting the state budget back on track....

... In the Seventh Supplemental Proclamation on May 6, the Administration backed off a bit ....

...Buried on the 19th page of a 68-page the document is a sentence suspending “Section 237D-6.5(b), distribution of the transient accommodations tax.”....

...the governor has suspended many laws....

...This is not a far-fetched scenario....

...Unless you like the idea of having doctors in rural areas being scarcer than toilet paper....

...The emergency proclamation suspends several laws, including chapters 89 and 89C, HRS, relating to collective bargaining....

...a 50-state study called “2020’s States with the Best & Worst Taxpayer ROI....”

... Now’s Not The Time To Raise Taxes And Fees....

...When do Legislators know that enough is enough?  -- When somebody — or preferably LOTS of somebodies — tells them....

...per visitor, per stay charges the money from which goes to protect and preserve the environment....

...the Department of Taxation, is behind a few of them....

...a 0.5% GE Tax hike to pay for 'climate change'....

...if this bill passes, guess what is going to happen to your electric bill....

...This year’s Legislature has produced some unique proposed solutions to deal with our housing crisis....

...to impose a surcharge on real property tax....

...there is a plethora of requests for “special funds” in the 2020 Legislature....

...This deserves an answer....

...After this one-two punch, many more businesses that sell to Hawaii customers are going to find themselves with Hawaii tax obligations....

...the reasons for an ever-increasing “living wage” have been a second tier topic of discussion....

...solar powered systems costing an average of $40,000 per classroom have started breaking down or will only work for a short time every day....

...OHA would be prudent to consider taking this report to the law enforcement authorities who would be able to investigate whether any of the conduct described in the report rises to the level of criminal conduct, such as fraud, theft, or bribery.... 

...Hawaii’s cost of living was 201.3 percent of, or double, the national average, with the primary problem being housing costs that punched in at a staggering 347.1 percent of the national average. Our grocery costs were at 160.8, utilities at 185.2, transportation at 135.7, and health care at 120.3 percent of the national average respectively....

...The Supreme Court of Hawaii will take over the Common Cause / League of Women Voters' gut-n-replace appeal. The transfer order was filed today....

...The bill would classify bed and breakfast homes and other transient vacation rental units as “hotel and resort” for property tax purposes....

...the landscape here is filled with complexity and disparities between transportation industries....

...our state is underutilizing this money on a consistent, year-to-year basis....

...spurred by the announced plans of Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to enact a tax on wealth....

...the fee is collected only on shipments by water....

...Who’s going to pay all these attorneys? They don’t work for free....

... which horse do you think finished pulling the wagon first? ....

...the Motion Picture, Digital Media, and Film Production income tax credit....

...In the news recently was a story about business and licensing fees actually going down....

...We need this to stop....

...the Honolulu City Council is considering Bill 25, which would add numerous energy conservation requirements for any residential dwelling that is new or remodeled....

...We, among many others, have long warned that if government squeezes our population too hard with taxes, regulations, and other impediments, people will vote. Not necessarily at the ballot box, but with their feet.... 

...A recent working paper released by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, or UHERO, collects and reports hard data on the effects of the Jones Act....

...taxes that have ballooned over the years....

...Some of the requirements contradict themselves....

...the taxes that have changed the most dramatically in the past 30 years....