Taxes and Spending

June 2011

2011 Pork Report

The Book Hawaii's Government Doesn't Want You to Read

Malia Hill

(more)

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Taxes and Spending

May 2011

$600 million in New Taxes

by Frances Nuar

The desperate dance to balance the state budget was trickier than ever this legislative session. Far from providing innovative solutions, the Democratic led legislature had one answer to solve the $1.2 billion budget deficit: tax, tax, and tax some more, to the tune of $600 million. (more)

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Taxes and Spending

April 2011

Legislators should cut spending instead of increasing tobacco taxes

by Frances Nuar and Michael LaFaive

Hawaii is facing a $1.3 billion state budget deficit — and in response, a series of bills have been introduced to hike taxes, including Other Tobacco Product taxes. Among the proposed legislation is House Bill 273, which would hike taxes on such products as cigars and smokeless tobacco. The state should avoid all tax increases and instead turn to spending cuts to balance its budget. (more)

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Taxes and Spending

February 2011

Hawaii Needs Fiscal Notes

by Frances Nuar

If your family is like mine, you're paying a little closer attention to price tags than you did a couple years ago. With high unemployment, stagnant wages, and the price of basic necessities continually rising, it only makes sense that we consider prices when shopping for everything from gasoline to groceries. (more)

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Taxes and Spending

February 2011

Fiscal Notes Fact Sheet

Fiscal notes provide value for legislators and the public by forecasting revenue changes in proposed legislation. However, many times bills are introduced and voted on before the data on fiscal repercussions are made available to those voting on the bills. State officials can easily feign surprise at the state of the budget when it is obvious that the long-term budget forecasts have either been unseen or utterly disregarded. For more info, please click on the PDF below! (more)

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