‘Surprise’ Tax Last Straw for Bar Owner (Hawaii Together)
Bill Comerford Closes Shop. The host for this show is Keli’i Akina. The guest is Bill Comerford.
Before the COVID-19 lockdowns, Bill Comerford owned four of Honolulu’s most popular restaurant bars: Kelley O’Neil’s, Irish Rose Saloon, Anna O’Briens and O’Toole’s.
But the forced closures during the lockdown years and later heavy taxation led him to selling all but three of them, and now he is left with only the Irish Rose Saloon.
Comerford says he racked up lawsuits and debt when he was forced to close his businesses, but the latest nail in the coffin is a ‘surprise’ tax bill related to the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant programs.
Comerford discusses the taxes and fees that ultimately toppled his businesses and wiped out all of his retirement savings that he had built up over many years during this episode of ‘Hawaii Together,’ hosted by Keli‘i Akina, president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
The ThinkTech YouTube Playlist for this show is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQpkwcNJny6nA87XBgqRzAmCFmG39Wg_X
Please visit our ThinkTech website at https://thinktechhawaii.com and see our Think Tech Advisories at https://thinktechadvisories.blogspot.com.
ThinkTech Hawaii streams from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm HST on weekdays. Check us out any time for great content and great community.
If you have any questions, please send them to: questions@thinktechhawaii.com.
Our vision is to be a leader in shaping a more vital and thriving Hawaii as the foundation for future generations. Our mission is to be the leading digital media platform raising public awareness and promoting civic engagement in Hawaii.
ThinkTech Hawaii is a Hawaii Non-Profit Corporation:
President and CEO – Jay Fidell
Executive VP and COO – Carol Mon Lee
Production Manager – Hayley Ikeda
Administration Manager – Maria Sabio
Station Manager – Michael Pangilinan
Broadband Provider – Servpac Inc.
Underwriters:
Atherton Family Foundation
Carol Mon Lee
Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education
Michael Sklarz
The Cooke Foundation
Hawaii Energy
Hawaii Energy Policy Forum
Hawaiian Electric
Galen Ho of Immersive Worlds
Kamehameha Schools
Roberts S. Toyofuku and Pacific Law Institute
Sharon Y. Moriwaki
Shidler Family Foundation
Sidney Stern Memorial Trust
Volo Foundation
Yuriko J. Sugimura
ThinkTech treats this video as licensed under a creative commons license, and invites the public to view, distribute, disseminate and share it under the terms of that license.
The information in this video is not to be relied upon as legal, medical, accounting or other professional advice. For legal, medical, accounting or any other advice, please consult with your own professionals.
The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests in this video are their own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of ThinkTech, its management or staff or other organizations with which our hosts and guests are associated.