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I think it's because hawaii is too expensive for some kids,so they move mainland. Every election, there are people who say they will make hawaii more afforable. But seems they always don't vote for the person who talks about making hawaii afforable,but the other guy.
I think it's because hawaii is too expensive for some kids,so they move mainland. Every election, there are people who say they will make hawaii more afforable. But seems they always don't vote for the person who talks about making hawaii afforable,but the other guy.
I think too many people “talk” about things like that but then never really do anything. It’s just talk. Or they talk about it but really have no idea what they could really to have an impact. Most of the time they talk about making it more affordable by having better wages. But that really never works and other than increasing a minimum wage they really can’t do anything about that. They also “talk” about making health care affordable... but again, that really is not something they can control.
I think if they wanted to do something that could have a small but immediate impact, and is within their control, they could pass legislation to exempt food, prescription medication and rent from GET taxes.
Here's an idea, stop letting foreign money buy up houses just to flip them to vacation rentals. Four of the houses on my street sit empty and are used as vacation homes for the 1% to park their money. 3 other houses are on VRBO for at least $400 per night. Just last month a house posted and was bought in two days for 1.1M in cash. Soon as they closed vacationers were there renting the house out. The state should impose a huge tax for non residents buying a house.
Add in the rail problem and endless taxes and everyone seems to have had enough.
Here's an idea, stop letting foreign money buy up houses just to flip them to vacation rentals. Four of the houses on my street sit empty and are used as vacation homes for the 1% to park their money. 3 other houses are on VRBO for at least $400 per night. Just last month a house posted and was bought in two days for 1.1M in cash. Soon as they closed vacationers were there renting the house out. The state should impose a huge tax for non residents buying a house.
The vacation rentals are illegal - so taxing them more doesn't make sense. They just need to enforce the existing regulation.
On the flip side, if those houses are selling high on your street - that should mean your house is worth even more as well.
What makes you believe it is "foreign" money as opposed to locals - I suspect it is people who live here mostly buying the multiple houses - it is way to much of a hassle for most out of state buyers.
As far as emigration goes, losing 10 people a day like Hawaii is, how does it compare to NYC or Illinois (Chicago) losing 100 per day? Hawaii is just getting it's foot in the door on the problem, but won't learn anything from the cities/states who have been dealing with this for years.
Hawaii and Chicago politicians use the same strategy for dealing with people leaving due to high taxes and cost of living- raise taxes on those who remain to make up for the tax income lost on those who left. This only makes more people leave the following year. Chicago tried to stem the tide by becoming a sanctuary city and while that helps with slowing the declining population, it hasn't helped the tax coffers, in fact it may have had the opposite effect. Both locations have state pension funds that are critically underfunded, and getting worse each year.
It seems like Hawaii is perfectly poised to continue exacerbating this problem, they are now even making neighbor islands pay for Oahu's boondoggle rail construction even though the residents on neighbor islands can't even use it.
I'm using "Texas" here rhetorically, you could substitute a dozen or more states: At some point people wake up and see that Texas has virtually no taxes, you can buy a huge house on land for 1/4th the price of a tiny Honolulu condo, and a one-way ticket for you and all your stuff costs less than a year's taxes in Hawaii and they begin to ask.... WHY do I live here again? Then they start researching more and find out gas cost half as much, the food is cheap and has never been on a barge. And they have some of the best medical care in the country without months-long waits to see specialists. How does Hawaii try to retain the population? We raise taxes.
There is another option. Smaller, more efficient government. But that requires honest government.
I expect to see the diaspora from Hawaii to continue as we edge closer to recession.
Seriously. Ever expanding population is foolish and I'm tired of the entire country being fed the narrative that it has to be so to "expand the economy" and prop up entitlements.
The vacation rentals are illegal - so taxing them more doesn't make sense. They just need to enforce the existing regulation.
Sure it does. Stop letting people who don't live here buy up real estate.
It really is simple. Not a resident? Pay a 50K a year penalty property tax. That also includes military stationed here. Housing locals should be the first priority. Unfortunately our useless politicians will do nothing and Hawaii will continue its downward spiral.
Stop letting people who don't live here buy up real estate.
I see - do you have any statistics than non-locals are driving up real estate prices. I doubt the foreign buyer in Kahala on the oceanfront or the condo buyer at Park Lane has any material impact on housing prices for locals - or the people plucking down millions for Kakaako condo's.
You aren't addressing the real problem. The real problem are the people who live on Oahu and buying real estate and using it as vacation rentals or Airbnb - so many people are house rich on Oahu who bought a house 20-30 years ago, they are getting mortgages on those homes and using the proceeds to buy multiple houses....In 1988 the median home price was $210,000, now it is about $800,000 - what do you think some of those people are doing with that money....think about it. You could buy 5 houses if you knew what you were doing....
To fix the real problem isn't to attack the roughly 15% out of state buyers on Oahu who aren't buying in Pearl City - it is to enforce regulations on VRBO and Airbnb.....
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