The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by House Committee on Economic Development and Technology on Feb. 7, 2025.
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Feb. 7, 2025, 10:15 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 423 and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Economic Development & Technology
Rep. Greggor Ilagan, Chair
Rep. Ikaika Hussey, Vice-Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: HB959 — RELATING TO TAXATION
Aloha Chair Ilagan, Vice-Chair Hussey and members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii would like to offer its comments on HB959, a wide-ranging series of tax proposals affecting everything from the state general excise tax to the state personal income tax.
It is impossible to offer meaningful comment on a bill of this type because it not only combines tax hikes, tax cuts and tax restructuring, but also has blank spaces instead of rate information for a new taxation scheme.
Rather than bundle these disparate ideas together, it would be far better to break them into separate proposals that could be evaluated more effectively.
Moreover, the use of blank rate information in the creation of an annual “privilege” tax program defeats any effort to evaluate the impact of the tax on residents, the economy or state revenues.
It is fundamentally unfair to the public to consider or pass blank tax bills. The people have a right to know the rates proposed in any tax bill — especially if it is likely to involve a tax increase.
Given Hawaii’s high cost of living, our sluggish economy and the fact that we have yet to enjoy the benefits of the recent income tax cut, it is inadvisable to contemplate any tax increases at this time.
The best thing the Committee could do is to discard all tax hikes proposed in this bill and move forward with only the proposed tax cuts.
We are very willing to discuss broader tax reform measures for Hawaii, such as ways to simplify income tax brackets. However, this is not the proper vehicle for that discussion.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of strategic campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaiif
