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There is no way that bill will pass, unfortunately. Taxing the food people must buy to survive and the prescriptions the need for health seems wrong to me on the grounds of simple morality basis.
But governments everywhere have become a beast that demands to be fed and grows ever larger.
The amount of tax revenue generate off the sale of food alone is huge. For that sort of bill to pass, it would need to be accompanied by a corresponding increase in some other tax, like property or income.
My sense is that there is a lot of waste in Hawaii Gov spending and a lot of money spent in way to benefit friends moreso than the general public.
Seeing the condition of most of the schools is pretty sad. If I were governor, my first initiative would be to get started tearing down many existing schools and rebuilding them to upgrade the facilities.
The second thing Hawaii needs is a citizen referendum process to allow citizen to bypass the legislation, write their own bills and move them directly to the general population for a vote. Other states have this and while it can be a double edged sword, it also can help keep the government in check and more accountable to the people.
I think it is silly to cut taxes on anything while schoolteachers make mid-40's which makes for an utter fail for the school system here. I'd rather divert extra funds to getting schoolteachers to competitive pay. You get what you pay for.
Our pathetic Governor currently has radio commercials touting his $800 MILLION surplus from the last year. This means that the government took too much of OUR MONEY. There would be plenty of money for teacher pay if the education system in Hawaii wasn't so bloated with administrators.
As a side note... Cutting the tax on food is not going to "help the poor" in Hawaii as everyone here knows that the poor get an incredible amount of assistance via SNAP (aka food stamps). A family of 4 with both spouses working $9 per hour full-time jobs can get around $325 a person - that's $1,300 a month for food! Plus, Hawaii already does not tax food that is purchased with the food stamp benefits.
As a side note... Cutting the tax on food is not going to "help the poor" in Hawaii as everyone here knows that the poor get an incredible amount of assistance via SNAP (aka food stamps). A family of 4 with both spouses working $9 per hour full-time jobs can get around $325 a person - that's $1,300 a month for food! Plus, Hawaii already does not tax food that is purchased with the food stamp benefits.
Where did you get these numbers? I was curious and went onto the SNAP website with a calculator. For a fictious family of four making $9 an hour per spouse; I came up with a $633 number for the family.
Kind of a duplicate post from the other thread: All I can say is beware of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, it's more like astroturf: claiming to be for the working class while dismantling social programs in the name of libertarianism and free-for-all captialism.
I'm not saying the working class isn't hurting or that the state-wide school system is a superb administration doing it's job perfectly, but I am very weary of libertarians and conservatives attacking some of the social systems that are unique to Hawaii, especially under false guises. We do need government watchdogs, but this is like listening to the fox about how to fix the chicken coop.
Frankly, I hope the state gov't keeps the excess, uses it to pay of high-interest bonds, and banks the rest for the next downturn. In a rising economy, no sense lowering taxes on the wealthy. That said, I would be for making the GET less regressive, probably by untaxing food and drugs and making it up with an extra percent or two on the upper income tax brackets.
That said, I would be for making the GET less regressive, probably by untaxing food and drugs and making it up with an extra percent or two on the upper income tax brackets.
Given Hawaii has the second highest income tax bracket in the nation (11%) and starts at only $200,000 I'm not sure that I'd support that especially with the state having a $800 million surplus right now.
I think property tax is woefully low and I could support that increasing.
I will say with the extra revenue you definitely see things happening at least on Oahu with the money - the repaving of the roads comes to mind - much of the Pali Highway got repaved after the tunnel on the way to Honolulu, it used to be a bone jarring ride - the H1 rehab project both around downtown and on the West side, and I just noticed H3 getting some repaved sections - public works projects seem to be alive and well right now.
Where did you get these numbers? I was curious and went onto the SNAP website with a calculator. For a fictious family of four making $9 an hour per spouse; I came up with a $633 number for the family.
That isn't a Hawaii amount. Even the federal site doesn't list Hawaii's amounts. Hawaii raises the income limits and raises the amount of benefits.
It may not have been taking into account the deductions for rent, electric, phone, etc. that goes into the calculation, plus, once again, Hawaii gets more than any other state, per person for the deductions.
I have some friends in that exact boat - family of 4 getting around $300 per person (not quite the maximum.)
The single mom down the street with 2 teenagers said she gets just over $800 per month in SNAP benefits, and she is making around $11 an hour. In both cases, the kids get free school breakfast and lunch too.
Now, maybe there is a little funny business going on with their reported numbers, but even so, that's a really decent amount for food every month. They eat quite well.
It is difficult to get a real, Hawaii benefit calculator, but here is the main page for Hawaii:
Given Hawaii has the second highest income tax bracket in the nation (11%) and starts at only $200,000 I'm not sure that I'd support that especially with the state having a $800 million surplus right now.
Yeah, but if they do raise it, what are all those rich people going to do? Leave? Actually, they probably would take their money out and put it in tax sheltering schemes...
Quote:
Originally Posted by whtviper1
I think property tax is woefully low and I could support that increasing.
Wouldn't that just hurt the longtime residents whose 30-year-old house is now worth $500K-$600K, but they live on a low or fixed income? (though if it would stop people from refi just to buy a truck, I can get behind it)
I would fully support raising the property tax on spec housing and transient vacation rentals (even the legal ones). The problem is how do you do that and not impact the long-term rental market?
Or you do something like Prop 13 in California, but that has issues as well (landlord protected from market rate taxation but making market rate income from rents--so then you need rent control and everybody blames everybody else for their problems).
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