Taxes

The reality is that calories in the American diet from added sugars in soda have dropped nearly 40 percent since 2000....

...everything is on the table from an increase in the general excise tax rate to fund education to new fees on cell phone use to the administration’s proposals to tax sugary drinks and single-use bags....

Just bluff an increase in TAT and they all line up in favor of extending the ‘temporary’ 9.25% rate....

...such taxes can shrink the economy unnecessarily by discouraging investment and artificially raising the price of basic needs....

A number of tax department employees who were investigated in connection with the security breaches have been “arrested and relieved of their duties,” said state Rep. John Mizuno....

People inquiring about what the legislature is doing are surprised when told that lawmakers are hard at work trying to find ways to take even more of their money. Of course, it starts at the top....

Instead of cutting taxes on the poor, Abercrombie proposes to extract more taxes from them by hiking the minimum wage.

...elected officials desperate to make-up the budget shortfall selectively raised taxes, resorting to increases that weren’t visible to the general public in order to avoid mass resentment ....

Abercrombie was right about one thing in his 2013 State of the State speech, there are too many answers in the form of solutions being proposed before sufficient questions are asked and researched....

As public audits recently revealed, it's difficult to trust the Department of Health to spend our tax dollars wisely....  

In 2011, he had attempted to pass a soda tax under the Orwellian title “Sugary Beverage Healthy Hawaii Fee,” but the state legislature saw through the obfuscating rhetoric and defeated it.

A 12 ounce soda would cost 12 cents more....

...each bright, shiny and eager face will have an agenda to deliver to his or her constituents back in their home districts. That means money!

Should the Legislature require the state Public Utilities Commission to approve energy projects that further the state’s renewable energy goals even if it costs consumers more?  -- NO 75%

The bag tax revenue could very well be exceeded by the expenses caused by additional hospitalizations.

“This ruling will significantly increase costs for all tour operators, travel agents, OTCs, and other travel intermediaries...."

...repeal of the lesser half percent rate was made as a parry to the recommendation of their consultant that the overall rate imposed on all retail activities be increased to generate more revenues for the state....

In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions....

The deal that Congress and President Obama struck that finally—but only partially—avoided the fiscal cliff resulted in seven tax increases.  Those hikes combined with six tax increases from Obamacare....

As another legislative session is about to be convened, let’s look back at some of their follies over the past few years ....

 "...revenue enhancements such as making permanent certain tax provisions that are due to sunset in 2015 and beyond.”

...real billionaires, like Warren Buffett, are going to be affected very little by the new higher rates (unrealized capital gains will still be taxed at a rate of zero), while entrepreneurs with pass-through income are going to get hosed....

The Wall Street Journal calculates that the “typical U.S. family earning $50,000 a year” will lose “an annual income boost of $1,000.”

When Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush increased taxes in return for spending cuts—cuts that never ultimately came—they did so at ratios of 1:3 and 1:2....

Postpones sequestration’s automatic spending cuts (including those to defense) by two months....

On January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike....

...just days left for President Obama and lawmakers in Congress to avert a major tax hike, sequestration, and other major policy changes....

With time running out for President Obama and Congress to reach an agreement, this Christmas Eve we bring to you 2012 twist on Clement Clarke Moore's famous poem....

 Under the law, the reductions are due to take place Jan. 2, 2013

Our coalition has over 2,300 individual members, over 8,000 Facebook fans and more than 320 business members....

Lacking votes from his own party, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) called off consideration of “Plan B” last night....

...this tax bill contains no tax increases of any kind—in fact, it permanently prevents them....

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Republican leaders have done it once again....

...general funds, approximately $6.1 billion for fiscal year 2014 and $6.3 billion for fiscal year 2015....

... lawmakers will make a bid to increase taxes yet again ....

This week, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) have been trading secret offers on the fiscal cliff....

Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions....

Insurance premiums could increase by thousands of dollars because of a new tax in President Obama's health care law....

With less than a week left for the White House and Congressional negotiators to come to some sort of compromise, it is time to put all of this debate into perspective.

... several deficiencies expose the Program to fraud, including the over-reliance on self-reporting by Program personnel and lack of systematic compliance inspections....

Hawaii this year will collect $186 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 4.8 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs....

...every day now brings another business owner in the news talking about cutting workers’ hours or making other cost-cutting moves in anticipation of Obamacare’s impact in 2013....

Taxes on wages, dividends, interest, and partnership/sole proprietor income would exceed 50 percent only in Hawaii, California, and New York City….

The move being considered by Congress to raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67 would leave 26,893 seniors without health coverage (based on current beneficiary data), forcing them into the private insurance market, which is estimated to cost them an additional $2,200 per year*.

When President Obama put forth his first offer on the fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said, “You can’t be serious.” We could say the same thing to the Speaker after his counteroffer yesterday.

Obama’s answer to the fiscal cliff is a proposed $1.6 trillion in tax hikes plus new stimulus spending—and expanded power for himself to raise the debt ceiling....

...some taxes are already scheduled to rise as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)....

Some of these governors are schizophrenic on taxes: They jack up overall business tax rates, then give breaks to favored businesses....

“there is no half-cent currency! The small retailer will have to “eat” the half-cent on every single unit he sells. In this mandated business model, the more the retailer sells, the more money he loses.”

"...the IRS contacted us today regarding your 501(c)4 application and stated that they are withdrawing the additional questions that they sent to your organization...."