• Time to continue the good fight • Clearing up confusion on sliding tax scale idea Time to continue the good fight My Ph.D scientist father and Hanalei resident (Dr. Ray Chuan) has been channeling his Hanalei development rage through me. Did
• Time to continue the good fight • Clearing up confusion on sliding tax scale idea
Time to continue the good fight
My Ph.D scientist father and Hanalei resident (Dr. Ray Chuan) has been channeling his Hanalei development rage through me.
Did Pierre Omidyar wait until my dad’s recent passing to move forward, or is it simply Mr. O’s ego needing to purchase a legacy? Self righteousness, no matter how well-intended, can’t be void of a cultural history that extends well beyond the executors. Moreover, this is science. Biology, chemistry and physics don’t make up numbers to suit their goals.
My father measured and recorded water samples for years to prove record counts of bacteria and chemical pollution in Blackpot, the Hanalei River and the surrounding beaches, all indicating a population growth that was simply unsustainable for healthy biodiversity.
But we’re not only talking about saving species of flora and fauna, we’re talking about the totality of what makes the Hawaiian Islands, the people and the culture unique. From a developer’s own selfish morality, they should be scared for their own sustainability.
The mere physics of the destructive results from adding population and development to a delicate environment isn’t a tree-hugging rant. It’s a fact. I can’t wait to move back to Kauai to continue my dad’s fight.
No person has the right to bully such a devastating directive, and there is no sympathy for self-righteous indignation once they are served. Or, perhaps optimistically, when they realize that they may be wrong.
Jason Chuan, Altadena, California
Clearing up confusion on sliding tax scale idea
Please allow me to comment on an earlier letter of mine that was printed here a few weeks ago. In it, I tried to point out the relevance of income and wealth inequality here on Kauai, and to suggest a solution to the many county tax problems addressed by writers to this forum.
That was simply that it would be possible to use the county Home Exemption Based On Income, which already exists in our tax code, to allow a fair solution to those problems.
The idea would be to graduate that exemption according to a sliding scale of income, and to create a similar graduated rebate for renters, that between them would allow the adjustment of our tax rate up or down without any danger of hurting those who cannot afford any increases.
This is a plan to take from those who can afford such increases, while exempting those who cannot, which would allow us to maintain or even increase our county services and employees in a more fair and equitable manner than now exists.
Marty Mills, Kapaa
