by Joe Kent | Oct 31, 2018 | Cost of Living, Education, Featured, Research & Commentary
This was originally published as a letter to the editor in The Maui News on Oct. 28, 2018. Lowering Hawaii’s cost of living would be a better way to help our public school teachers than the proposed constitutional amendment that was thrown out Oct. 19 by the Hawaii...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Oct 26, 2018 | Education, Featured, President's Column, Website
Last week’s action by the Hawaii Supreme Court to boot the “education tax” proposal from the Nov. 6 ballot was a victory for accountable government and the democratic process. Had it been approved by the voters, it would have authorized the state to tax real property...
by Grassroot Institute of Hawaii | Oct 22, 2018 | Education, Featured, Media release, Taxes, Website
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii agrees the ballot measure was vague and misleading HONOLULU, Oct. 19, 2018 >> The Hawaii Supreme Court today struck down the proposed constitutional ballot question on whether the state should be allowed to tax real property to...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Oct 19, 2018 | Accountability, Cost of Living, Education, Featured, President's Column, Taxes, Website
When even a Hawaii Supreme Court Justice isn’t sure who is supposed to pay a new tax, you know you have a confusing ballot measure. On Thursday, Hawaii’s highest court heard the counties’ arguments against the wording of the proposed state constitutional amendment...
by Joe Kent | Oct 17, 2018 | Cost of Living, Education, Research & Commentary, Website
This column was originally featured in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday, Oct. 17. This version includes the charts and footnotes. A widely cited study issued last month by WalletHub erroneously stated that Hawaii public school teachers make a starting salary...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Oct 5, 2018 | Accountability, Education, Featured, President's Column, Taxes
Shakespeare said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet — proof that he wasn’t a lawyer … or a politician. Either of them would tell you that a “surcharge” smells a lot better to voters than a “tax.” And that’s one of the problems with the ballot measure...
