Weekly Commentary

The story you are about to read is true.  The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.  This is the city:  Honolulu, Hawaii.  I live here.  I’m a doggie.  The suspect is Blankety Blank. No, that isn’t a … Read More

We’ve previously warned that our legislature has a dogged focus on new taxes – “ARF!  Don’t make fun of me like that!” It’s the Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie, with a report on recent bills! Q:        What would you like … Read More

Recently, an alert and concerned reporter, when visiting the offices of Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, spotted a whiteboard with 14 bill numbers written on it. All of the bills are supposed to be revenue raisers, … Read More

Several online travel companies engaged in protracted litigation against the Department of Taxation over whether and to what extent they are liable for Hawaii General Excise and Transient Accommodations Taxes on hotel accommodations that they sold to third parties on … Read More

One of the more debate-worthy bills at our Legislature (Senate Bill 94) involves requiring candidates for President and Vice President of the United States to post their tax returns on the Internet.  If they don’t, the bill says, they won’t … Read More

If you’re following bills as they move through our legislature, there are a couple of practices that we need you to know about. Often, committee chairs will refer to one or both of these practices when they move bills forward. … Read More

“Friends!  Romans!  Countrymen!  We desperately need to lift our public schools and our namesake university into the 21st Century.  Senate Bill 1474 will do this by a teensy little increase of half a percent to our general excise tax (“GET”), … Read More

Well, we’re in the thick of tax season!  It’s that time of year when individuals, gritting and gnashing their teeth, scour through their financial records and begin the arduous process of completing their 2018 federal and state tax returns. Here … Read More

Individual Development Accounts, a program that seems to be gaining traction at our Legislature, is a way to help lower-income people build self-sufficiency. Under conventional welfare rules, applicants for public assistance are awarded assistance based on need, which means that … Read More

Well, it looks like the Hawaii State Watch Doggie has woken up from his nap. A:  Hey!  Keeping watch is hard work! Q:  Undoubtedly.  So what are you reading there?  It looks like an Auditor’s report — “Review of Special Funds, … Read More