Taxes

... Legislators have introduced multiple bills in the 2023 legislative session that seek to remove the GET for medical services in Hawaii, either wholly or in part. They include ....

... removing the tax would lower medical costs and help alleviate the state's doctor shortage ....

... 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. ...

“They should look for ways to make government cost less and run more efficiently and operate on a leaner budget."

... Most compelling was the governor's proposal to increase tax deductions and support open records, but all the talk about spending was worrisome ....

... convince me that tax cuts are not advisable ....

... Rep Jeanne Kapela and Hawai'i Tax Fairness Coalition protest at State Capitol in favor of new tax ....

... Residential A properties went up 39.9% ....

... a recent national study of 3,000 counties in America found the Big Island has the third-worst shortage of healthcare providers in primary care, Maui has the fifth-worst shortage of healthcare providers in America, and Kauai has the 13th worst shortage ....

... 156 bills are on the current docket to be introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate ....

... Hawaii’s population has been declining for six straight years, and if policymakers don’t do something quickly to avert the looming increase in county property taxes, that is likely to continue ....

... We need fixes.  Not the temporary kind ....

...The lie that tourists pay 30% of the GE Tax is front and center as Gov Green and legislators quickly walk back Green’s fake 2022 campaign promise to eliminate the GE Tax from food and medical care....

... Grassroot Institute of Hawaii’s “wins” over the past year ....

... 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 ....

... Akina and Iwasa discuss the history of property taxes in Hawaii, how assessments are conducted and what reforms the counties should consider ....

... Gov. Josh Green made eliminating the general excise tax for food and medicine one of his major talking points. And on the county level, faced with concerns about skyrocketing real estate assessments, Mayor Rick Blangiardi promised to “aggressively” pursue ways to reduce that tax burden. ....

... more than 15,000 left the state between July 2021 and July 2022 ....

... revenue will continue to fall short of spending absent policy changes ....

... assessments of all real property on Oahu went up by 12.4% compared with the previous year. And that’s just the average ....

... Lawmakers have not indicated if they back Green's plan ....  

... City to Send 2023 Real Property Notice of Assessments ....

... Green's top priorities for his first 100 days in office ....

... A total of 606,674 Act 115 refunds were issued, totaling $307.9 million. That includes 288,590 direct deposits and 318,084 paper checks ....

“...our residents will continue to suffer and flee the state....”

"... it is essentially a budgeting gimmick ...."

... many Hawaii families are taking a hard look at their finances and calculating how inflation and recession will affect their holiday plans, if not their entire economic futures ....

... Rethinking HTA’s “Regenerative Tourism Fee” ....

... The state is short more than 1,000 doctors, which means some patients cannot get care, and the ones who do have to wait a long time. ...

... The idea seems to be gaining steam now since our federal court has struck down Honolulu’s recent ordinance clamping down on transient vacation rentals ....

... Hawaii’s unemployment insurance (UI) program is funded exclusively by employers via state and federal payroll taxes on wages ....

... The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare ....

“If we exempted medical care from the general excise tax it would save doctors and patients more than $200 million [a year]. And that would help keep doctors in our state, rather than having to flee the state to earn money elsewhere...."

... we gained a few high-income individuals but lost more of those folks scraping to make ends meet ....

... the petition, which can be viewed here, calls on lawmakers to exempt medical services from the state’s general excise tax ....

... The report examines the tax and spending choices made by the governors and discusses recent policy trends ....

... four of the top five states Hawaii residents moved to—Washington, Texas, Nevada, and Florida—forgo individual income taxes on wage income ....

... they told me, ‘Send this person to Costco’ ....

... Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is working with experts around the country to create a better Hawaii ....

... Hawaii Department of Transportation has been studying implementation of a Road Usage Charge ....

... support grew when rental cars are charged a higher rate than residents ....

... about 600,000 Hawaiʻi taxpayers are scheduled to receive approximately $294 million in tax refunds ....

... Will Hawaii’s candidates on the 2022 campaign trail follow through on their promises? ....

... Honolulu is 75% higher in taxes than the second most tourist-taxed city in the world ....

... Does the state have a responsibility to “go without,” if that would be better for the people? ....

... lawmakers are allowed to waive the state’s spending cap by a two-thirds vote, which they routinely do ....

... taxes on the purchases of those expenditures disproportionately hurt low income households ....

... Why don’t we just get rid of it? ....

... The three Democratic candidates for governor all support it ....

... $51.70 a night ....