HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0751.136 2014-2016 s
EZ CD
7.7
Statement Of Albert A. Nakaii Relating To Bill 165
1. The purpose of Bill 165 is to establish a 1/2% GET for the purpose of
funding operational and capital costs of public transportation systems.
2. According to USA Today, Hawaii County residents are the 1 lth poorest in
the USA.
3. According to a March 2016 study done by QMark Research for the Hawaii
Appleseed Center For Law And Economic Justice:
• Half(48%) currently describes their own personal financial situation as
being one that survives "paycheck-to-paycheck";
e One in four (25%) Hawaii residents have, in the last five years, worried
about how they would pay that month's rent or mortgage;
• Twenty-one percent have worried about how they would come up with
enough money to pay their monthly utility bill;
• One in five (20%) Hawaii residents have faced a medical crisis which
caused financial worry and hardship and questions as to how they would pay
these bills; and
e Seventeen percent of the families polled indicate they have worried about
being able to provide basics such as food on the table for loved ones.
According newspaper article, Councilman Onishi has stated that if this
Council does not pass the tax, the next Council will not have the opportunity to
increase the tax since the legislative authority to do so will end July 1. This is
presumptuous; at the very least. Should the next Council wish to impose a tax
increase, they can convince the State Legislature for authorizing legislation. That
this was done with such a "short fuse" is a thinly veiled political move to ramrod it
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through and is uncalled for since the situation does not call for emergency
measures that such a time constraint calls for. If an emergency ever arises, the
Council and Legislature can call for an emergency proclamation and get additional
funding, when and as needed.
"The positive side is that the tax would be a way to bring significant amount
of money into the County's budget" but what is so positive about taking it from
people who can least afford it? Isn't the primary concern of government, and the
Hawaii County Council, the impacts upon the citizens? Or, has government
become self-serving, like many other so-called "not for profit" entities?
That tourists will pay an estimated 1/3 of this tax still leaves the remaining
2/3 being paid by residents. Residents will pay along each step of each sales since
the tax is "regressive", that is, applied upon each sales transaction from raw
materials sales, transportation sales, to producer sales, to distributor sales, to
wholesaler sales, to retailer sales, to the consumer.
The State Legislature was "wise" (some would say chicken) for passing on
the political heat of raising the tax to the counties. Some would like to have the
additional revenue, "just in case", but as the adages goes, "nature abhors a
vacuum". History has shown that when the Hamakua Highway was completed, the
tax that was created for it, and that should then have been ended, was continued
because it was expediently available. There will never be an excess of money
because government will always spend it when it become available. History has
also shown that after one Governor of our State was able to create a $3001
surplus, the next Governor immediately spent it all and left us with an even greater
debt.
Tax increases should always be viewed as the very last resort in government
operations. Not until every last improvement in efficiency, cost control, and
management has been exhausted should it ever be considered. Has the County
now reached that point? Is anyone willing to say that examples of overspending
and inefficiency cannot be found? While it may be the more difficult row to hoe,
given the culture and "times", it is the right thing to do and the responsibility of the
Council to move in that direction rather than ignore longstanding and bigger
problems.
I urge the Members of the Finance Committee, and the Members of the
Council, to vote against Bill 165.
Albert A. Nakaji
27-319 Kaieie Road
Papaikou, HI 96781
808 964-5039
waltz@hawaiiantel.net