TAX MAN: There’s lots to digest in governor’s bill package
Governor Josh Green recently gave his State of the State address. His office and his agencies dropped a bill package into the legislative hopper. It really feels like we’re in the legislative session now!
TAX MAN: More temporary tax fixes being considered
The elections have been held. We know who the new Representatives and Senators are. The Hawaii legislative session doesn’t open until Wednesday, January 18th, but you’d better believe that legislators have been busy already.
TAX MAN: Today we search for Legislature tax ideas
Now that 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. We’ve put them into a Word Find puzzle for your amusement.
TAX MAN: Taxes need to be used to make lives better
In the weekly columns I have been writing in this space, I have been concentrating on money. The government makes us pay money in taxes, and then spends it in a way that is supposed to make our lives better.
TAX MAN: We’ve yet to learn how to earn a procurement exemption
This week, we are focusing on the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). They have been trying to award a tourism marketing contract worth tens of millions of dollars, as they have for the past several years. In the past, that contract has always gone to the Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), but this time around, there were a few twists and turns.
TAX MAN: What it takes to spend $600M on housing in three years
As we have written about before, last year’s Legislature approved $600 million to our Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) to reduce the monstrous waiting list of Hawaiians waiting for homestead lands. The catch, however, is that DHHL needs to spend the money, or enter into a contract to spend it, by June 30, 2025. Otherwise, the money goes back to the general fund.
TAX MAN: New administration has tax priorities
In a recent interview with Hawaii News Now, Governor-elect Josh Green outlined the top priorities he has for his first 100 days in office, presumably including the start of this year’s legislative session.
TAX MAN: Want to fight corruption? Follow the money
In a recent op-ed in Civil Beat, Robert Harris, who recently became the executive director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, mused about his role in the grand scheme of things. His first reaction was to describe his job as just enforcing the State Ethics Code and the Lobbying Law, but then saw a broader role for his agency as helping to restore public trust in government.
TAX MAN: Boosting the affordable housing fund isn’t the answer
Many financial and political experts (or people who say they are) are trying to make sense of the defeat of Honolulu’s Charter Question No. 1 in the general election earlier this month.
TAX MAN: Cleaning house at Office of Hawaiian Affairs
A financial investigation, by auditing firm Plante Moran, recently confirmed 22 instances of “fraud, waste, or abuse” at our Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
TAX MAN: Getting permitting out of home maintenance
This week we continue to focus on the City and County of Honolulu, where efforts are under way to deal with the highly backlogged state of affairs at our Department of Planning and Permitting. As we’ve previously reported, a 2020 City audit (Report No. 20-01) (Exhibit 4.3) found that a typical residential building permit application took 108 days to process, while one for a commercial project ($1 - $10 million) took 432 days. That is a very long time to be just waiting for a permit.
TAX MAN: The O‘ahu empty homes tax is on ice for now
One of the ideas that has been kicking around in the state and county legislatures for a couple of years now is the idea of an “empty homes tax.” 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.
TAX MAN: Are ‘dedicated funding sources’ really dedicated? Nah
I’m sometimes asked how we can achieve true fiscal reform here in the Aloha State. It’s easy to imagine an end goal, with government spending within its means and with no gargantuan liabilities (the big two are the State’s defined benefit pension plan and the EUTF health system for state retirees) hanging over our heads like swords of Damocles.
TAX MAN: Yes, people move because of excessive taxes
This week, we focus on a study that has just come out of the national Tax Foundation (with whom the Tax Foundation of Hawaii shares a name but not much else). That study looks at IRS and census data to see if tax considerations affect people’s decisions to move from one state and to another.
TAXMAN: State financial condition still dismal
Here in Hawaii, we have weathered a major pandemic. The primary driver of our economy is, and has been for a long time, tourism
TAX MAN: Words about our love-hate relationship with ‘P3s’
Our state has a love-hate relationship with public-private partnerships (P3). P3s are where public (government) interests and funds partner with private companies to cooperate and share risks and benefits.
TAX MAN: Three years to spend $600 million
Our Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is charged with administering about 200,000 acres of public lands that are to be leased to Native Hawaiians.
TAX MAN: Our kids are going away
We at the Foundation have been warning lawmakers for several years now that our state has been losing people. News media and some local nonprofits have been trying to find out why. The people leaving have said that they are unable to make ends meet here between the high cost of living and taxes.
TAX MAN: Rolling with a road usage charge
As many of you already know, the Hawaii Department of Transportation has been studying implementation of a Road Usage Charge (RUC).
TAX MAN: Blame for the housing crisis isn’t what you’d think
It’s been no secret that housing costs are astronomical here in Hawaii (even if you aren’t the TMT observatory). It’s been a tougher problem to determine why this is so, and then try to find solutions.