Taxes

... businesses in Hawaii are going to be paying $130 million more this year in unemployment taxes than they did last year. That’s a 46% increase ....

... Grassroot Institute “actually proposed 15 model bills this year that were introduced and got one across the finish line, which was the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact” ....

... Hawaii property tax rates thus can be low because the counties that assess and collect them do not have to cover the cost of public schools ....

... This situation has left the owners of many long-term rentals stuck with much higher tax bills ....

... lawmaking continues at the county level ....

... decrease the rates on the first tier of Residential A homes from $4.50 to $4.00 per $1,000 and increase rates on the second tier from $10.50 to $11.40 per $1,000 ....

... SB975, now Act 62, establishes the offense of unlawful shipment of tobacco products ....

... two bills that would improve Hawaii’s economy ....

... increasing taxes on anyone can come with its own set of problems ....

... and State Tax Collections per Capita--Hawaii 4th Highest ....

... If no action is taken, Hawaii businesses will pay about $355 million for 2023, up 46% over last year ....

... the “empty homes” theory is just another distraction from the real cause of Hawaii’s housing crisis, which is regulations that block homebuilding ....

... House Bill 954 would increase the personal exemption from $1,444 to $2,288 beginning with the 2023 tax year and increase the standard deduction ....

... Hawaii property taxes go from 28th worst to 32nd worst in four years ....

... 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 ....

... use his line-item veto power to trim back this massive spending overreach, including the $200 million “slush fund” ...

... no meaningful correlation between so-called empty homes and housing or rental prices ....

... Since bad bills tend to outnumber good ones, that means we played a lot of defense ....

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

... “The budget is increasing by 30% this year,” Kent said, far exceeding last year’s record increase of 17% and breaking the state’s constitutionally mandated spending limit as well, which can be bypassed by a two-thirds vote .... 

... higher property taxes could make homeownership unaffordable for some residents; landlords might have no choice but to increase what they charge their tenants; and businesses might have to raise prices ....

... The Legislature's proposed spending plan for fiscal 2024 could result in a state budget deficit of $45 million by fiscal 2028, if OK'd by the governor ....

... county lawmakers have it in their power to prevent or at least mitigate property tax increases ....

... the Tax Foundation’s 2023 State Business Tax Climate Index ....

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

... it finally became clear which big-ticket items were going to make it to the governor’s desk for signing — or hit the cutting room floor ....

... Grassroot Institute in the news ....

... Making Hawaii’s county property tax systems more simple is the best way Hawaii’s counties can provide tax relief ....

... The overall tax burden in Hawaii, which is a measure of taxes paid as a share of annual income, was 9.2% of the state's income per capita of $60,947, second only to Vermont ....

... Not all of Gov. Josh Green’s proposed tax cuts survived lawmakers’ scrutiny this session, but enough are still alive to be optimistic....

... If Hawaii’s politicians aren’t careful, they might kill the goose that lays the golden egg .... 

... a policy toolkit for county lawmakers seeking to offset spiking property assessments ....

... Each of these factors is influenced directly by state lawmakers through the legislative process ....

... Resolution No. 2023-33 will establish the real property tax rates for fiscal 2024 ....

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

... Testimonies submitted to the state Legislature, Honolulu Council, and Maui Council by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii during the past week ....

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

... No one likes the idea of our county governments profiting from Hawaii’s high cost of living.  But that’s what is going to happen soon unless we engineer some property tax relief ....

... Akina said Hawaii home prices are sky-high because of the scarcity of housing caused by “all the regulation … that developers and individual home builders have to go through in order to renovate or in order to build.” ....

"...what you’re really doing is just shifting the visitor impact around, and you’re creating new issues of congestion and use....”

... The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance today on relief payments ....

... motivating these businesses—or at least certain aspects of their business—to locate elsewhere ....

... impractical and legally dubious ....

... we can’t afford not to cut taxes because really, what we’re sitting on right now, are unhealthy ending balances ....

... County lawmakers haven’t decided yet how to deal with property tax hikes that are expected to result from higher property assessments across the state ....

... Hawaii’s state debt is also among the top five in the nation at $7,992 per capita and $11,879 when local debt is factored in as well ....

... only New York is worse ....

... three reasons: the state general excise tax, Hawaii's occupational licensure laws and the state's medical certificate-of-need laws ....

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

... The Hawaii State Legislature is off and running again after a brief pause during which the House and Senate exchanged the bills they each had approved ....