Talking Tax
More Persecution of the State Auditor. The hosts for this show are Jay Fidell and Tom Yamachika. The House Special Investigative Committee was supposed to be looking into problems at the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Agribusiness Development Corporation because of a less-than-glowing report by the State Auditor. But guess who got […]
The Great Tax Credit Hunt (Talking Tax)
Wading Through Hawaii Tax Forms. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. A few years ago, in 2017 to be exact, our lawmakers enacted an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which then was touted as a truly wonderful way to deliver tax relief to working families. If it is […]
Halftime at the Legislature (Talking Tax)
What’s Hot, and Not, in Tax. The host for this show is Tom Yamachika. The guest is Kevin Dayton. We speak with veteran reporter Kevin Dayton, now with Civil Beat. We cover various tax bills, including: (1) Some that got trashed, and deservedly so; (2) Some bills that are still alive despite their content; (3) […]
Tax on Health Care (Talking Tax)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. The physician shortage in Hawaii, although highlighted by the pandemic, has been years in the making. Its causes include a low Medicare reimbursement rate, General Excise Tax (GET) applying to medical practices, and our sky-high […]
Historic Funding to DHHL (Talking Tax)
But Can They Spend it. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) administers about 200,000 acres of public lands to be leased to native Hawaiians, upon which they may live, farm, ranch, and engage in commercial or other activities. The list of […]
The 2022 State Business Tax Climate Index (Talking Tax)
Hawaii Makes the Bottom Ten. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guests are Tom Yamachika and Katherine Loughead. Every year, the Tax Foundation (no relation to the Tax Foundation of Hawaii) puts out research paper called the 2022 State Business Tax Climate Index. For years, Hawaii has been around the 20s and […]
TANF Hoarding (Talking Tax)
400 Million in Unused Federal Money. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. One of the ways our government provides a safety net for those less fortunate is through a program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. TANF was enacted in 1996 as a program that replaced […]
FTZs for Fun and Export (Talking Tax)
Federal Programs that Preempt Taxes. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. In this country, a foreign trade zone (FTZ) is a geographical area, in (or adjacent to) a United States Port of Entry, where commercial merchandise, both domestic and foreign, receives the same Customs treatment as if it […]
Ending Government by Fiat (Talking Tax)
The Unending State of Emergency. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. A “state of emergency,” which causes the Governor’s emergency powers to kick in, is supposed to terminate automatically after sixty days. Our Governor has gotten around this limitation by proclaiming a continued emergency just before the sixty-day […]
The Demise of Gut and Replace (Talking Tax)
A Rumor Greatly Exaggerated. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Tom Yamachika. On November 4, the Supreme Court of Hawaii released its decision in League of Women Voters v. State. The decision was a huge step in the right direction. But will it get rid of all gut-and-replaces and eliminate […]