This article was originally published by The Maui News on Tuesday, June. 7, 2022. At right-center in photo above, Joe Kent is shown presenting testimony May 26 to the Maui County Council on its fiscal 2023 budget bill. _______________ Maui’s government is getting bigger while its economy is getting smaller, and that’s
Photos by Charley Myers The following commentary was published originally on Jan. 17, 2022, in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. _______________ Hawaii has the highest barriers in the nation for companies that exchange cryptocurrency, and those restrictions could worsen if lawmakers don’t hurry and open the door for this potentially prosperous new
The following commentary was published originally on Jan. 8, 2022, in Hawaii Filipino Chronicle. _______________ Hawaii lawmakers are wracking their brains about how to balance the state budget, only this time, the problem isn’t too little money, it’s too much. And maybe some of it should go back to Hawaii
Photo by Charley Myers The following article was published originally in the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle on Dec. 18, 2021. ______________ In their zeal to “save” the state budget, Hawaii’s lawmakers created new monsters — the county TAT surcharges — which threaten to drag down Hawaii’s economy Are more taxes on
This commentary was originally published in the March 20, 2021, edition of Hawai Filipino Chronicle. ___________ Hawaii residents were spooked last week by Senate passage of a bill that would increase the state’s highest personal income tax from 11% to 16% on annual incomes of more than $200,000, making it
This commentary was published originally in The Garden Island newspaper on Nov. 16, 2020. _______________ Gov. David Ige is rightly considering cuts to the state budget to compensate for Hawai‘i’s dizzying drop in tax revenues due to the coronavirus lockdown. One tool that could help would be for the state
This commentary originally was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sept. 28, 2020. _____________ Transporting freight between Hawaii ports just became significantly more expensive, thanks to a 46% rate increase granted in August to Hawaii’s monopoly tug and barge company, Young Brothers LLC. Effective Sept. 1, the increase was awarded
This article was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat on Sept. 21, 2020. ______________ Faced with a $2.3 billion budget shortfall caused by Hawaii’s coronavirus lockdowns, Gov. David Ige on July 17 suspended the state’s required fiscal 2021 payment of $388 million to the government employees’ health benefits fund. It was a desperate move
This commentary was originally published Aug. 10, 2020 by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. __________ Hawaii already has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, and many economists believe the Jones Act only makes things worse. The federal law requires that all goods carried between U.S. ports be
The following is a letter to the editor that was published by Lahaina News on July 23, 2020. __________ Maui lawmakers should be congratulated for trimming this year’s county budget to $1 million less than the previous year. It was only a 0.1 percent cut, but still it demonstrates that
This article was originally published by The Maui News on Tuesday, June. 7, 2022. At right-center in photo above, Joe Kent is shown presenting testimony May 26 to the Maui County Council on its fiscal 2023 budget bill. _______________ Maui’s government is getting bigger while its economy is getting smaller, and that’s
Photos by Charley Myers The following commentary was published originally on Jan. 17, 2022, in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. _______________ Hawaii has the highest barriers in the nation for companies that exchange cryptocurrency, and those restrictions could worsen if lawmakers don’t hurry and open the door for this potentially prosperous new
The following commentary was published originally on Jan. 8, 2022, in Hawaii Filipino Chronicle. _______________ Hawaii lawmakers are wracking their brains about how to balance the state budget, only this time, the problem isn’t too little money, it’s too much. And maybe some of it should go back to Hawaii
Photo by Charley Myers The following article was published originally in the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle on Dec. 18, 2021. ______________ In their zeal to “save” the state budget, Hawaii’s lawmakers created new monsters — the county TAT surcharges — which threaten to drag down Hawaii’s economy Are more taxes on
This commentary was originally published in the March 20, 2021, edition of Hawai Filipino Chronicle. ___________ Hawaii residents were spooked last week by Senate passage of a bill that would increase the state’s highest personal income tax from 11% to 16% on annual incomes of more than $200,000, making it
This commentary was published originally in The Garden Island newspaper on Nov. 16, 2020. _______________ Gov. David Ige is rightly considering cuts to the state budget to compensate for Hawai‘i’s dizzying drop in tax revenues due to the coronavirus lockdown. One tool that could help would be for the state
This commentary originally was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sept. 28, 2020. _____________ Transporting freight between Hawaii ports just became significantly more expensive, thanks to a 46% rate increase granted in August to Hawaii’s monopoly tug and barge company, Young Brothers LLC. Effective Sept. 1, the increase was awarded
This article was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat on Sept. 21, 2020. ______________ Faced with a $2.3 billion budget shortfall caused by Hawaii’s coronavirus lockdowns, Gov. David Ige on July 17 suspended the state’s required fiscal 2021 payment of $388 million to the government employees’ health benefits fund. It was a desperate move
This commentary was originally published Aug. 10, 2020 by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. __________ Hawaii already has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, and many economists believe the Jones Act only makes things worse. The federal law requires that all goods carried between U.S. ports be
The following is a letter to the editor that was published by Lahaina News on July 23, 2020. __________ Maui lawmakers should be congratulated for trimming this year’s county budget to $1 million less than the previous year. It was only a 0.1 percent cut, but still it demonstrates that
