Taxes undermine lure of staycations

Taxation without representation once sparked a revolution. Hawaii’s spend-and-tax legislators and leaders are adversely affecting our economy. The latest attempt to sober up their drunken spending pattern will dull the beauty and luster of staycations and vacations in Hawaii.

As I prepared for retirement, I was swayed by the economic attractions of staycations and purchased three weeks of deeded time shares on Oahu. Each week was subject to annual property taxes.

I have also reluctantly paid the transient accommodations tax (TAT) during my stays on the West Side. Now the city is debating its own TAT surcharge.

In the absence of common- sense representation and government fiscal responsibility, I will do the only thing I can do: sell my timeshare weeks and spend my vacation time and money out of state.

Hawaii needs politicians who will prioritize, analyze, think, listen and focus on the urgent and important.

Chris K. Neff

Mililani

Republicans gutting basic right to vote

More than any other legislation, it concerns me that for the second time this year, our U.S. Senate Republicans blocked debate on a voting rights bill aimed to assure basic rights.

Most people assume every citizen’s right to vote is a part of the American way. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell falsely called the bill a Democratic attempt to federalize elections. This year, 19 states passed 33 bills to make voting harder.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed a new secretary of state to oversee Texas elections, someone who challenged the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania, claiming the election was stolen.

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, beginning a rush for state gerrymandering.

I used to consider myself a social liberal and fiscal conservative. Sadly, the liars are winning the quest to give us the best government money can buy.

Sara Marshall

Aiea

Abortions not just about the woman

Just a reminder to everyone disputing the moral equivalence of abortion and vaccine refusal (“You don’t have right to put others at risk,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 19): A woman’s decision to terminate (or continue) a pregnancy does affect the health and well-being of someone else — namely, the baby.

Gerald Ching

Waialae Iki

Schools squander money on coaches

The firing of head football coach Nick Rolovich at Washington State University was clearly about his selfishness rather than his freedom. Too bad. But what really bothered me was the fact he was earning an annual salary of $3.2 million, making him the highest-paid public employee in Washington state.

This is not only an obscene amount to pay somebody for the job, but once again demonstrates how most institutions of “higher learning” — or what should correctly be called institutions of “selfish earning” — squander enormous amounts on administrative and staff/coach enrichment, instead of using money to improve educational offerings for minority students, fund scholarships and so on.

Hopefully the new coach can get by on $266,000 a month.

John Kitchen

Kona

Maui March about vaccine mandates

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has a unique approach to journalism: Rather than cover a story, you discredit an event before it occurs, and when it does occur you ignore it altogether.

I am, of course, referring to your “Planned March panned for promoting misinformation” (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 15), which appeared the day before the “Mandate Free Maui Unity March and Rally.”

Had you actually covered the event, you might have discovered it was not about spreading COVID-19 “misinformation,” but about opposing power-grabbing vaccine mandates.

Mark Saxon

Kahului

What about diseases stopped by vaccines?

I am just curious.

Haven’t these “vaccines-don’t-work” folks ever just stopped to consider why they have never contracted measles, mumps, diphtheria and rubella, or spent the summer months every year fearing the dreaded polio virus?

Just curious.

Gloria McCulley

Kakaako

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