Letters to the Editor for Wednesday — February 11, 2004

• Feral chickens

• Cost of housing

• Excise tax

• Local school boards

Feral chickens

So, with all of the concern about avian flu all over Asia, supposedly coming from people living in close contact with chickens, is anybody here concerned about the large feral chicken population here and the possible spread of flu among them and us? I think that this would make an interesting, timely story for the newspaper, and as a resident of this island with feral chickens all over my yard, I certainly would like to read whatever you come up with.

Cathy Capozzoli

Cost of housing

Derick Harris has written a provocative article “What Price is Kauai Willing to Bear?” Unfortunately the proposed pathways to solutions for our housing crisis is deferred to the last paragraph. Government intervention in providing reasonable housing calls for a responsible government. This is lacking on Kauai.

Would our County Council dare to impose a substantial transfer tax on property sales? Money generated could be used to develop affordable housing. Would our County Council dare to freeze rents such as is done in major mainland cities so that rental property remains affordable? Would our County Council dare to legislate against changing rental properties into vacation rentals that realizes more income for the landlords? In reality, it does boil down to supply and demand setting the level of the real estate market.

As long as the County Council remains unable to seriously address the many issues facing this island, the market place rules. That is why the Property Tax Charter Amendment initiated by Ohana Kauai is being circulated to place before the voters for approval. Change will take place on Kaua‘i only through the initiative process until responsible and accountable people are elected to the County Council.

Monroe Richman

Koloa

Excise tax

Regarding the two very well written letters by Mr. Lehoven and A.C. “Sandy” Brodie I would like to add that what every consumer , that’s you and me’ needs to know and remember is that every tax on every business is paid by the consumer. No business can keep operating if they don’t make a profit . And they must pass on every cost of doing business. Taxes on a business are a cost of doing business. Further more , all of these add on taxes are a regressive tax .

That is, they hurt the low income person much more than they hurt the wealthy. One of the reasons that “FICA” and other income taxes that a worker pays is taken out of his check is so he /she won’t notice how much they are paying in taxes. If every worker had to write a check every month to the treasury for their taxes there would be a tax revolt in this country. The politicians knew that if the people never saw the taxes they pay as actual money they wouldn’t notice how much of their income was going to the government. And , in fact, many people think they are lucky to be getting a refund after April 15 th because they over paid. So they are happy to get a refund of their own money that the government has been using interest free. Mr. Lehoven and Mr. A.C. “Sandy” Brodie should be asked to speak at high school economic classes so that our young people would be taught about the fallacies of hidden taxation. I believe that economic classes today do not teach this aspect of taxation. And that is unfortunate.

Gordon ” Doc” Smith

Kapa‘a

Local school boards

(Excerpts from a letter to a joint legislative hearing on creating local school boards in Hawai‘i)

I am unable to attend your hearing since I live and teach in the schools of Kaua‘i. I am a substitute teacher and I am teaching short and long term assignments, full time. I have taught in 12 of Kaua‘i’s 15 public schools. I have experienced at first hand the quality and caliber of the Dept. of Education’s leadership and managerial abilities. The DOE’s performance is dismal and I agree with Hawai‘i’s present Superintendent of Education, Patricia Hamamoto, that Hawai‘i’s educational system has and is failing the children of Hawai‘i. The DOE has been cheating the children of Hawai‘i for years and in effect stunting their futures.

The problem with education in Hawai‘i is the Department of Education and it needs to be dismantled and replaced with another system. One suggested alternative is the Governor’s initiative which is outlined in HB 2331…I am wholeheartedly in support of the Governor’s plan, HB 2331, and against the DOE suggested plan, HB 1895.

…The issue is that this is such a highly charged and important topic that it needs to be decided by a vote of Hawai‘i’s voting public. It should not be decided by a Commission of a few in the halls of the legislature that HAVE NO IDEA of what teachers and substitute teachers face everyday. Bureaucratic busy work interfering with our teachers ability to teach. The lack of disciplinary policies that remove and keep out, disruptive students from the classrooms and many, many, many, many more problems. Education is a discipline. Without a strong disciplinary policy in the classroom, there will be no learning. Hawai‘i’s parents know this and Hawai‘i’s children in the classroom know this. This issue MUST be decided, not by a few, but by the registered voters of our Island State.

…There are only two States that I know of that utilize such a highly centralized educational system. The State of Hawai‘i and the Peoples Republic of China. Let us not resort to the tactics of the latter.

John Hoff

Lawa‘i