We continue with our series about a timeshare association suing the county, with the county then back assessing the association for $10 million. Here we examine: “Are back assessments of property tax legal?” In most of our counties, the ordinances … Read More
In last week’s article we gave some background about a case working its way through the court system. Timeshare association sues county; county then back assesses association for $10 million. The first issue for our deep dive is, “Are we … Read More
This week we begin a series on a long and hotly litigated property tax case from Maui. This case isn’t about wind turbines like we wrote about a couple of weeks ago. This one involves timeshares. Some timeshare projects in … Read More
About half a year ago, we wrote about some limited liability companies formed by our Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). These companies received cash and property, including 1,600+ acres of land in Waimea Valley, from OHA. The question we raised … Read More
Recently, there has been fierce debate over Bill 42 before the Honolulu City Council. Here’s the background: In 2007, the City passed Ordinance 07-001, which says that the Honolulu rail project would be funded only with proceeds of the general … Read More
Today we look at a case now pending in the Hawaii Supreme Court that may give us some insight on county real property taxes and their limits. Once upon a time there were a couple of companies that constructed some … Read More
On October 18, 2018, the Supreme Court of Hawaii held oral argument on a petition by the four counties to invalidate the “Con-Am,” namely the constitutional amendment ballot measure that would allow the State to slap a “surcharge,” essentially an … Read More
This week, we look at another provision that was passed by the 1978 Constitutional Convention to assure our fiscal health—and what our lawmakers have done to marginalize it. As we mentioned in June, Hawaii Constitution Article VII, sections 8 and 9 … Read More
Those of us who are getting along in years may remember the “general income tax credit,” a line on our state income tax return where we could claim a one-dollar ($1) credit. The saga of this credit tells us a … Read More
One article that recently appeared in the Star-Advertiser was titled, “State forgoing millions in federal reimbursements.” The state agency referred to in that article was our Department of Education. We have children from indigent families in our school system. Some … Read More