Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'

... there is a darker side ....

... Threats of violence ....

... Legitimate questions now need to be asked about whether the government is going to want to take back some of that Lahaina money in taxes .... 

... On August 18, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service announced “expansive tax relief” for Hawaii wildfire victims ....

... there is a darker side ....

... not all of it has been peachy ....

... They need to spend money.  Quickly ....

... The current DoTax administration has told practitioners that he is more open to settling cases to whittle down the backlog of tax appeals ....

... In early 2020, when DoE approached Maui County for permits, it said that the design of the pedestrian overpass was already started and projected for it to be built in 2022 and 2023 ....

... Folks on the Neighbor Islands:  Don’t laugh. You might be next! ....

... facilities geniuses at our DOE came up with the idea ....

... At the ceremony, the Governor made clear that tax relief, especially for ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) families, is still on the table.  There will be a Phase 2, he said, apparently targeting the 2024 legislative session ....

... cronyism, revenge and retribution -- someone's been sandbagging ....

... Sometimes it takes a bad situation to make another bad situation better.  This might be one of those times ....

... five blind monks trying to describe an elephant ....

... Apparently Fevella filed a personnel complaint against the head of the Hawaii Film Office, Donne Dawson, to emphasize this point ....

“...ready, fire, aim....”

... One of the bills in this past legislative session that fell to the cutting room floor when it probably shouldn’t have was Senate Bill 1035, which would have exempted medical services provided by health care providers if the services were paid for by Medicaid, Medicare, or TRICARE ....

... The HHRF shut down in 2002.  It's fund still has $186.7M today ....

... The bill containing the fee proposal, Senate Bill 304, did not survive the conference committee process. ...

... every one of the tax credit enhancements has been given only a five-year life.  All of them go away on January 1, 2028 ....

... The Tax Relief Shell Game Ends, and Broad-Based Relief Didn’t Make It ....

... After deferring the measure multiple times, WAM amended the bill to add two new provisions:  a section allowing tax credits for building a film studio, and a section making extensive amendments to the administration of the existing production credit.  This was done without the benefit of a public hearing ....

... 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 ....