• Raise taxes and watch me go elsewhere • Hawaii’s a Home Rule state, so Kauai has right to govern itself • Would love to hear about cost cutting Raise taxes and watch me go elsewhere As a timeshare owner who has been
• Raise taxes and watch me go elsewhere • Hawaii’s a Home Rule state, so Kauai has right to govern itself • Would love to hear about cost cutting
Raise taxes and watch me go elsewhere
As a timeshare owner who has been coming to Kauai for more than 20 years, here’s my short comment on raising the taxes on timeshare owners … GO AHEAD. You will end up with a vacant timeshare for my period. You will still get your taxes, but the money I would spend during those three weeks will not be on Kauai.
Carol Shewell
Maple Valley, Wash.
Hawaii’s a Home Rule state, so Kauai has right to govern itself
Hawaii is a “Home Rule” state. County ordinances may be more restrictive than state and federal laws. For instance, Kauai’s chief of police can restrict who is permitted to carry a concealed weapon on Kauai, but cannot be less restrictive – the state may issue medical marijuana cards, but federal law prohibits marijuana users from owning or possessing firearms.
On Nov. 12, 2013, the state of Hawaii unveiled a quickly cobbled two-and-a-half-page “Kauai Agricultural Good Neighbor Program,” slated to begin Dec. 1, 2013. The biotechs’ reports were filed just before their lawsuit in January, and that sufficed to pre-empt Kauai’s Ordinance 960. This voluntary reporting which “may” contain pertinent data will be in effect for one year.
The chemical companies are growing seed crops and not food for human consumption and they’ve been treating Kauai’s soil with more than 10 times the national average of pesticide and herbicide usage. Given the extraordinary dosages of their chemicals, required environmental impact statements should address the effects on birds and fish that eat insects, chemicals leeching into groundwater, runoff into the ocean, subsequent effect on marine life, and how soon Kauai farmers can grow edible crops on the lands leased by and treated with these companies’ chemicals.
Glyphosate has been found in the breast milk of American women, calling to question industry claims that the chemical is not bioaccumulative.
An interesting byproduct of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision – i.e., “Piercing the corporate veil” – may be that owners, board members and shareholders will be held personally liable for their corporations’ actions.
Anna Nimatee
Kapaa
Would love to hear about cost cutting
Steve Martin’s letter published Aug. 20 deserves support as does the effort to privatize many governmental operations.
Would be heartening to hear councilmembers and candidates discuss their specific approaches to cost cutting with the same vigor they devote to raising revenue and the equity of taxes.
Frank Kelly
Koloa
