A long time ago, in October 2015 to be more precise, the Tax Foundation of Hawaii sued the state. Why? Because at the time, the state was skimming 10 cents off every dollar that was being collected for rail, and it plopped the money into the state’s general fund, where
We have written before about GEMS (Green Energy Market Securitization), a program adopted by our state government in 2013. The state wanted to facilitate the buildout of “clean energy infrastructure,” a necessary step to reaching its clean energy goals. GEMS was supposed to be a financing program that provides low-cost
This week our series of tax news returns to Maui, where we have an update on the efforts to help with Maui Memorial Hospital workers and other employees of our state health system. As we have written before, our state-run hospitals in Maui County, including Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula
On March 8, the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism released a study on Hawaii real property taxes. It may be unusual for a State agency to do a study on a county tax. But this study appeared to be an outgrowth of a move by our teachers’
A bill in the legislature, championed by the state teachers’ union, would propose a new way of raising additional money for education. It would authorize a substantial surcharge on real property to fund education. The bill would require an amendment to the Hawaii Constitution to be effective. That is because
One of the ideas now working its way through our legislative system addresses the fate of Obamacare in Hawaii. Many are concerned that our federal government will be changing the federal Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare. They would like Hawaii to keep it even if the Feds don’t.
It’s been a month into the legislative session. The sheer number of bills related to tax or public finance is staggering. It’s much more frenetic this year than in any other year I’ve been in this position, and my sentiments are shared with some of the rules attorneys from the
Here in Hawaii, we have an initial group of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries getting ready to open shop, although none have opened to date. This has raised some tax issues before, and some are likely to come up again. On Election Day 2016, voters in several states legalized marijuana and
In almost every year that the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz has run, Lucy offers to hold a football for Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown comes running up to kick it, and then Lucy yanks the football away at the very last second. Psych! Charlie Brown flies into the air
Although Halloween is over for this year, various ghosts and ghouls remain to haunt our society. Those include “Zombie States.” Zombie States are states that are financially “dead” but are somehow shambling on, through a combination of hiding significant liabilities off the state’s financial report, compiling and filing the financial
A long time ago, in October 2015 to be more precise, the Tax Foundation of Hawaii sued the state. Why? Because at the time, the state was skimming 10 cents off every dollar that was being collected for rail, and it plopped the money into the state’s general fund, where
We have written before about GEMS (Green Energy Market Securitization), a program adopted by our state government in 2013. The state wanted to facilitate the buildout of “clean energy infrastructure,” a necessary step to reaching its clean energy goals. GEMS was supposed to be a financing program that provides low-cost
This week our series of tax news returns to Maui, where we have an update on the efforts to help with Maui Memorial Hospital workers and other employees of our state health system. As we have written before, our state-run hospitals in Maui County, including Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula
On March 8, the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism released a study on Hawaii real property taxes. It may be unusual for a State agency to do a study on a county tax. But this study appeared to be an outgrowth of a move by our teachers’
A bill in the legislature, championed by the state teachers’ union, would propose a new way of raising additional money for education. It would authorize a substantial surcharge on real property to fund education. The bill would require an amendment to the Hawaii Constitution to be effective. That is because
One of the ideas now working its way through our legislative system addresses the fate of Obamacare in Hawaii. Many are concerned that our federal government will be changing the federal Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare. They would like Hawaii to keep it even if the Feds don’t.
It’s been a month into the legislative session. The sheer number of bills related to tax or public finance is staggering. It’s much more frenetic this year than in any other year I’ve been in this position, and my sentiments are shared with some of the rules attorneys from the
Here in Hawaii, we have an initial group of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries getting ready to open shop, although none have opened to date. This has raised some tax issues before, and some are likely to come up again. On Election Day 2016, voters in several states legalized marijuana and
In almost every year that the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz has run, Lucy offers to hold a football for Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown comes running up to kick it, and then Lucy yanks the football away at the very last second. Psych! Charlie Brown flies into the air
Although Halloween is over for this year, various ghosts and ghouls remain to haunt our society. Those include “Zombie States.” Zombie States are states that are financially “dead” but are somehow shambling on, through a combination of hiding significant liabilities off the state’s financial report, compiling and filing the financial