One of the more unique property tax exemptions in the City & County of Honolulu is the exemption for “Historic Residential Real Property Dedicated for Preservation.” Under the exemption ordinance, owners of historic homes can save thousands of dollars in … Read More
Dear Friends, We are asking for your support in a case that is soon to be filed in the Supreme Court of Hawaii seeking invalidation of the ballot measure seeking to allow the Legislature to impose real property tax on … Read More
These days, our General Excise Tax (GET) contains exemptions and reduced rates that are supposed to reflect commercial reality but often contain leaps of faith. One common example is the wholesale rate. If I sell you a mango that you … Read More
Today, we focus on Kauai real property tax, thanks to an alert reader who has given us a horrifying account of something so commonplace as buying a home there. How long do you think it takes between buying a home … Read More
In the 2018 legislative session, the legislature passed SB 2922, which will put on the November 2018 general election ballot a question, “Shall the legislature be authorized to establish, as provided by law, a surcharge on investment real property to … Read More
I’ve often heard the argument that taxes on Hawaii real property are too low. Because the taxes are low, the argument goes, prices are driven sky high, leading to economic pandemonium. But is that really true? Maybe it’s just a … Read More
Click here for pdf version of Hawaii’s findings.
In this space, I often have unflattering things to say about tax credits. Every year, legislators propose tax credits for some little-noticed niche in an industry. Sometimes the credit is well thought through, and sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes the desired … Read More
Back in 2014, we wrote in this space about a nasty Honolulu City & County rule involving real property tax appeals. That rule said that if you as a property owner didn’t like your real property tax assessment and you … Read More
From the Pew Charitable Trusts Taxes make up almost half of state government revenue, with the bulk coming from levies on personal income and general sales of goods and services. Broad-based personal income taxes are the biggest source of tax … Read More