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Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'
| Sunday, December 28, 2025 |
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Charitable Giving This Year?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 146 Views :: Taxes
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... there is an additional complication called the Pease limit ....
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| Sunday, December 21, 2025 |
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Gaming This Year?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 450 Views :: Gambling, Taxes
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... According to the Census Bureau, state tax revenue from sports betting nearly quadrupled in the last four years ....
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| Sunday, December 14, 2025 |
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More Grief Over SNAP
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 701 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Cost of Living
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... information to purge allegedly fraudulent recipients ....
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| Sunday, December 7, 2025 |
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Making a Federal Case Out of the Green Fee
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 762 Views :: Jones Act, Judiciary, Taxes, Tourism
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... the cruise lines alleged that the tax appeal system we have here is anything but plain, speedy, and efficient ....
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| Sunday, November 30, 2025 |
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SNAP Confusion…On Us
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 925 Views :: National News, Hawaii State Government
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... the new guidance says that immigrants in certain categories, namely Refugees, Individuals Granted Asylum, Parolees, and Deportation Withheld are “Not Eligible” for SNAP ....
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| Sunday, November 23, 2025 |
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Pitfalls in Tax Appeals
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 780 Views :: Taxes
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... People sometimes get into a disagreement with the Department of Taxation ....
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| Sunday, November 16, 2025 |
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Student Loan Forgiveness for a 'substantially illegal purpose'?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1026 Views :: Higher Education, Cost of Living
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... better watch out because there are changes coming ....
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| Sunday, November 9, 2025 |
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Eligible Charges
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:48 PM :: 1216 Views :: Health Care, Taxes
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... some health insurance programs don’t cover general excise tax that we in Hawaii impose on health care charges ....
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| Sunday, November 2, 2025 |
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TATmas Tree
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1149 Views :: DHHL, Taxes, Tourism
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... Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is proposing Legislators again hike the Transient Accommodations Tax ....
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| Sunday, October 26, 2025 |
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Spend That Money, Vought Is Watching
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1789 Views :: DHHL
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... DHHL's carryover balances, and these high annual re-appropriations that they have, kind of made it low-hanging fruit for the Trump Administration ....
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| Sunday, October 19, 2025 |
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Even More TANF Hoarding
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1322 Views :: Family, Hawaii State Government
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... federal TANF money that we haven’t spent: $452 million ....
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| Sunday, October 12, 2025 |
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DoTax Employees Rebelling Against the Culture of Silence
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2308 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... with a very public step being taken, it will be impossible to simply sweep the matter under the rug ....
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| Sunday, October 5, 2025 |
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Nonresident Withholding, Six Years Later
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1864 Views :: Taxes
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... the legislation was enacted in 2019, six years ago. At the time, the Department issued an announcement saying that it wasn’t ready to implement the requirement yet, so taxpayers could relax ....
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| Sunday, September 28, 2025 |
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The Deduction for State and Local Tax
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1554 Views :: Taxes
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... the push and pull that the federal tax system inflicts on state and local tax systems ....
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| Sunday, September 21, 2025 |
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Your Money Stays in Vegas — Then the IRS Wants Some
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2576 Views :: Gambling, Taxes
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... Trump tax act: new rules on gambling losses ....
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| Sunday, September 14, 2025 |
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Charitable Giving Under 'Big Beautiful Bill'
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4098 Views :: Taxes
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"...a significant boost to the standard deduction...."
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| Sunday, September 7, 2025 |
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DoTax Suddenly Begins Collecting GE Tax on Tips
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:42 PM :: 6009 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, Tourism
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... This seems to me to be a departure from past practice ....
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| Sunday, August 31, 2025 |
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No Tax on Tips
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5516 Views :: Labor, Taxes, Tourism
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An individual who receives tips can exclude up to $25,000 of those tips from his or her gross income....
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| Sunday, August 24, 2025 |
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Classroom Heat
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5776 Views :: Education K-12, Energy, Ethics
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... ten years ago Governor Ige kicked off an effort to get air conditioners into public school classrooms ....
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| Sunday, August 17, 2025 |
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No Tax on Overtime
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4884 Views :: Labor, Small Business, Taxes
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... this is critical information for employers too ....
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| Sunday, August 10, 2025 |
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Encumbrance for the Stadium
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4510 Views :: Ethics, Development, Hawaii State Government, Higher Education, Tourism
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... Act 88 of 2021, which Act 248 amended, stated that the appropriations in the biennium budget would lapse on June 30, 2024 ....
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| Sunday, August 3, 2025 |
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Constitutional Expenditure Controls
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2769 Views :: Hawaii History, Hawaii State Government
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... over the last fifty years, our lawmakers have tended to regard those provisions as bothersome annoyances, to be worked around or avoided ...
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| Sunday, July 27, 2025 |
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Pay for No Work
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4709 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Hawaii Statistics, Labor
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... $6.3M salary for 'administrative leave' ....
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| Sunday, July 20, 2025 |
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Nonprofit Blankety Blank
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2865 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... $50 million in the hands of a four-person committee ....
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| Sunday, July 13, 2025 |
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SNAP Cliffs Are Coming
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3179 Views :: Family, Hawaii State Government, Cost of Living, COVID-19
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... the USDA whacked our state with an $11 million fine for its huge error rate two years in a row ....
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| Monday, July 7, 2025 |
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Building New Schools
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:27 PM :: 2529 Views :: Education K-12, Development, Taxes
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... the fees have been collected but have not been used, and for a very long time ....
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| Monday, June 30, 2025 |
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Lawsuit Challenges “Dam Special Fund” Used to Undermine Constitutional Expenditure Controls
By Tom Yamachika @ 3:57 PM :: 2579 Views :: Ethics, Agriculture, Hawaii State Government
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... The lawsuit alleges that the Special Fund was intended to be, and is, used to circumvent expenditure controls that are in the Hawaii Constitution for the protection of taxpayers ....
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| Sunday, June 29, 2025 |
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Twenty Years of Nickels
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3285 Views :: Environment, Small Business, Taxes
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... the fund has swollen to over $50 million ....
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| Sunday, June 22, 2025 |
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Dam Special Fund
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2622 Views :: Ethics, Agriculture, Land Use
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... Our state budget already is in chaos, and adding more workarounds and sleight of hand will not make things better! ....
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| Sunday, June 15, 2025 |
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Intent to Veto
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1587 Views :: Taxes
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... two tax bills are on the list ....
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| Sunday, June 8, 2025 |
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The Unseen Stopper Committees
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2189 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... money chairs’ macabre tradition ....
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| Sunday, June 1, 2025 |
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Tax Liens: Light at the End?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1929 Views :: Hawaii History, Taxes
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... Before 2009, Hawaii had no statute of limitations on the collection of taxes ....
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| Sunday, May 25, 2025 |
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2025 Legislative Special Funds -- 0 for 86
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2125 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... out of the eighty-six special and revolving funds reviewed, not one of them met the statutory criteria ....
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| Sunday, May 18, 2025 |
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2025 Legislative Also-Rans
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1835 Views :: Hawaii State Government
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... a few bills that passed both houses of the legislature, but did not make it through conference, may come back to haunt us next year ....
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| Monday, May 12, 2025 |
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2025 Legislative Wrap-Up
By Tom Yamachika @ 3:05 AM :: 2161 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... there were a few tax increases and a bill that is kind of a tax cut ....
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| Sunday, May 4, 2025 |
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The Major Raid that Wasn’t
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2043 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... Senate Draft 2 of the bill proposed to raid ninety-seven special funds for $320M ....
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| Sunday, April 27, 2025 |
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HB1175: Small Victory Over Procedural Trap
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1725 Views :: Taxes
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... It’s a genuine procedural trap ....
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| Sunday, April 20, 2025 |
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HB1369: Category Killer
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2340 Views :: Small Business, Taxes
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"...all of the negotiations and conversations take place behind closed doors...."
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| Sunday, April 6, 2025 |
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Taxing Capital Gains
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2203 Views :: Taxes
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... If Auntie’s kids sell her house for a $500,000 gain to provide money for her to go to a nursing home, for example, the tax will fall on her the same as anyone who earns $500,000 in one year ....
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| Sunday, March 30, 2025 |
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You Want to Raise the TAT by HOW Much?
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2446 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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... the bills replace the current 10.25% tax rate with a blank ....
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| Sunday, March 23, 2025 |
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The New Tax Cuts Website
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1831 Views :: Taxes
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... in big bold type it screams ....
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| Sunday, March 16, 2025 |
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SB1434: Universal Vax for Hawaii
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2308 Views :: Health Care, Taxes
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... a new assessment (a new tax) against health plans and health insurers ....
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| Sunday, March 9, 2025 |
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Lien on Me
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1485 Views :: Taxes
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... a nasty little device used by tax agencies ....
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| Sunday, February 23, 2025 |
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TAT Is Not Duct Tape
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1553 Views :: Taxes, Tourism
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... some lawmakers think the TAT fixes everything ....
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| Sunday, February 16, 2025 |
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Candy Crush
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2119 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, Cost of Living
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... it’s being pushed very hard as a sweet deal, but it has the potential to really stomp our economy ....
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| Sunday, February 9, 2025 |
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Dedicated Funding?!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1687 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... There. Is. No. Such. Thing. As. A. Dedicated. Funding. Source! ....
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| Sunday, February 2, 2025 |
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Hold On to Our Gains!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1214 Views :: Taxes
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... highlights and low lights on some of the shenanigans ....
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| Sunday, January 26, 2025 |
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Those Nickels Add Up!
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 2143 Views :: Environment, Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... ripe for raiding ....
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