Like many in Hawaii, I was very disappointed that the state Legislature failed miserably to come to grips with the problem of funding the rail project.
To me the answer is a no-brainier. Have the tourists pay. Why? I decided to check on hotel taxes in other cities. Consumer Reports had an article titled, in part, “Who’d have thought Honolulu would be cheaper than Houston?” The article listed the top 10 cities and their hotel taxes. Here are the top 5: Houston, 17 percent, Indianapolis, 17 percent; Columbus, 16.75 percent; San Antonio, 16.75 percent; and Chicago, 16.39 percent. Honolulu did not even make the top 10.
The Legislature looked at an option to raise the hotel tax from 9.25 percent to 12 percent. Year after year we read about tourism breaking all previous records for arrivals and record breaking daily spending. I doubt that these trends will be adversely affected if the hotel tax is raised.
Ken Bailey
Kailua
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Stop bleeding taxpayers for rail
It’s time to stop bleeding us taxpayers!
Every step of this rail transit project was done wrong — total mismanagement.
We have been told on numerous occasions that this rail project was on time and on budget. Please tell us the truth. The mayor said the city has enough money to keep the rail project moving until late summer or the end of this year. Is that the truth? Please be precise.
We should build the rail to end at the Kalihi Transit Center and utilize our bus system to transport the people to their final destination.
The rail should not be built to Ala Moana Center. It is not cost-effective. Furthermore, it would be just another major transit center where many of our local residents would need to transfer to a bus that would take them to school or work, not to shop at Ala Moana.
Honolulu does not have enough ridership to support this rail. In addition, we will need money to maintain the rail.
Roland Louie
Kaimuki
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Hold lawmakers to account at polls
Hawaii needs more citizen participation in local politics.
We refuse to elect Republicans (for good reason — just look at what they do in the states that they control, and in Washington, D.C.), so we need to do more to hold the local Democrats accountable.
Some of our state senators are acting like spoiled children. Rejecting the well-qualified Tom Gorak for a seat on the state Public Utilities Commission, because the governor did his job in the appointment, was disgraceful. The rat lungworm disease funding dispute was not in the best interest of the people (“Doctors struggling to diagnose disease,” Star-Advertiser, May 8).
Tell your legislators. Their email addresses and phones are public and easily accessible. If they respond and grow up, good. If not, support some primary challenges. With our turnout a few hundred primary voters might make a difference.
Vincent Giambalvo
St. Louis Heights
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Ostrov can help Hawaii GOP
The Republican Party of Hawaii is fortunate to have a great candidate for party chairwoman in retired U.S. Air Force Col. Shirlene Dela Cruz Ostrov (“With a passion to rebuild, Hawaii’s GOP can be a force again,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, May 4).
The recently failed 2017 legislative session, completely controlled by Democrats, is proof that Hawaii has to regain a two-party system to move forward.
We have watched as election after election fewer Republicans have gained or retained seats. We even lost our last Republican senator, Sam Slom, making our Senate the only one in the country with only one party.
By electing Ostrov, we will have two strong women leading the Hawaii Republican Party — Ostrov as chairwoman and Andria Tupola as minority leader.
With these two dynamic women working together we believe 2018 will be a year when Hawaii finally realizes it takes two parties to make legislation work.
Carol Thomas
President, Oahu League of Republican Women
Kailua
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Fix tax brackets for working poor
I completely agree with your editorial that lower-income workers need tax relief (“Give low-income workers tax break,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, May 6).
As an employer, I was astounded to find that state withholding taxes on wages are higher than withholding for federal taxes (for smaller-dollar payroll checks). It would simplify things for the income tax brackets to be moved upwards so that lower rates apply as wages increase.
Why collect these higher taxes and go through all the administrative costs of giving back this nonrefundable earned income tax credit, probably including the cost of new hires which will burden the state’s retirement obligations? It is by far cheaper just not to collect them in the first place.
Richard Stancliff
Makiki
