The Hawaii Legislature has been considering a $16 billion budget for fiscal year 2020 that would spend more money than it’s projected to take in. As a result, it is scrambling to find new ways to raise tax revenue, and that, says Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, is “backward budgeting.”
Interviewed on Tuesday by KHON2 News reporter Howard Dashefsky, Akina said the Legislature should behave more like a regular family household and spend only money that it has on hand. Otherwise it will have to borrow money or raise taxes, neither of which are good options.
Akina told Dashefsky about the Grassroot Institute’s newest report, “State of the State Budget 2020,” released that very day, which suggests the Legislature rein in its spending, lower taxes and reduce regulations, among other options, to help strengthen Hawaii’s economy, bring down the cost of living and even, perhaps, help generate more tax revenue.
View the interview here:
