GREAT article by Hawaii Dept of Tax director Kurt Kawafuchi. WOW. A Gov't official that gets it!
Posted by Tony Kawaguchi, RA on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 2:39pm.I just saw this article in the Star Bulletin, and WOW I am impressed. This is written by the director of the Hawaii Tax Department, and it is awesome! Some excerpts:
"The proposed tax hike is one of the largest in state history. Raising the GET from 4 percent to 5 percent would significantly impede Hawaii's economic recovery because of the GET's broad reach. In a nutshell, this proposed tax increase would remove roughly $500 million from Hawaii's economy every year. As the saying goes, the GET taxes "anything that moves" — including rent, food, clothing, gas, nonprescription medicine and doctor visits"
"The poor, who have the least ability to pay the tax on ordinary daily transactions and have to spend nearly all of their funds to survive, would be hit hardest. All businesses in Hawaii also would feel the impact as they purchase goods, services and rent. Sales would slow, consumers will pay more and jobs will be lost."
"For the past year, the Lingle-Aiona administration has been working vigorously to spur Hawaii's economic recovery. But with a 25 percent state GET tax increase, Hawaii's hope of rounding the corner in the near future will be stalled."
Right on KURT! You rock! You get it!
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