Over the past 10 or so years that I have been in the seat, I have seen legislature after legislature consider many, many bills to increase taxes. Every year. Without fail. At the Foundation, we keep a list of the … Read More
Recently, the Honolulu City Council has taken up the idea of imposing a different tax rate for residences that are vacant. The idea is contained in Bill 76 (2020), a bill that started off last year, was referred to the … Read More
Most of us have heard about House Bill 862, the bill that cut off the counties’ share of Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) but allowed the counties to impose their own TAT. This bill became law by legislative override of Governor … Read More
One fundamental assumption that has been made over the years by our lawmakers is that if you enact a tax, money will be raised. What if that weren’t true? In late 2019, a pair of economists, Enrico Moretti and Daniel … Read More
Lately, the news about HART, the body governing Honolulu’s largest ever public works project, has been focused on one of the nine voting members. That member‘s term is coming to an end, and the news is focusing on Mayor Rick … Read More
This week we reflect on a piece in “The Atlantic” that argues quite persuasively that your government not only taxes people by taking their money, but also imposes administrative burdens that waste countless precious hours of people’s time. “The issue,” … Read More
This week we are taking up as a new and noteworthy development Bill 17 being considered by the Honolulu City Council. That bill would give the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting a clear pathway to enforcing fines that the … Read More
First, a quick question: What’s worse than having your property condemned, or taken for a payment representing “just compensation”? The answer: Having your property taken for no payment. Taxation, of course, is one way this happens. But it also can … Read More
Some time ago, we devoted some of this space to discuss the State Auditor’s findings regarding the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Special Land and Development Fund (SLDF). That fund is the repository of all land rents the State … Read More
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued the “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” There wasn’t much media coverage of it outside of the business press, because the order is lengthy and, rather than announcing new law, … Read More