For a long time, Hawaii has had income tax incentives to encourage television, movies, and other productions to work their magic here in Hawaii. The production credit was enacted in 1988, at which time it was 4% of regular production … Read More
About a year ago, we tried to shine the spotlight on a federal program for families and children called TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. That program provides assistance for struggling families and children – but not directly. The federal … Read More
We’ve come to that part of our legislative session where all the public hearings are done. From here on out, lawmakers in the House will be chatting with their counterparts in the Senate to hash out any differences between their … Read More
In the fast-paced, chaotic world that is the Hawaii Legislature this time of year, it is difficult to make any predictions about anything. But there seems to be a glimmer of hope that some pieces of the Governor’s income tax … Read More
In the sports world, we have “March Madness.” Last week in this space, we wrote about “Credit Madness.” Now, lest we miss the forest for the trees, let’s discuss madness at the Legislature in general. A month ago, Civil Beat … Read More
In the sports world, we have “March Madness.” At our Legislature this year, we have “Credit Madness.” With a surplus on the State balance sheet north of a billion dollars, lawmakers have proposed all kinds of tax credits to advance … Read More
We have recently passed the halfway point in the current legislative session. Many of the more outlandish or ruinous tax proposals have fallen by the wayside. Many tax proposals remain, mainly having to do with tax relief or credits. There … Read More
“Lucky you live Hawaii,” the saying goes. Long-time readers of this column may chuckle at that because we have been pointing out lots of ways the government here could be improved. But sometimes our sister States get themselves into big … Read More
Here in Hawaii, we officially have a love-hate relationship with tourism. How do we love it? Look no further than the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The HTA was established through legislation in 1998 (Act 156, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998). The … Read More
One of the more intriguing ideas to cross my desk recently is in Senate Bill 822. It proposes to have certain sections of our state designated as “creative districts.” The idea would be to gather artists, such as painters, photographers, … Read More