A rebate for Hawaii taxpayers appears near delivery after approval Friday by a conference committee at the Legislature.
Committee members approved $300 rebates for people who earn under $100,000 and $100 rebates for folks earning more than the same sum. Those rebates also apply to dependents of taxpayers, meaning a family of four where each person earns less than $100,000 would collectively receive $1,200.
The rebates are included in a bill that members of the joint House and Senate conference committee also are using to put $500 million into the state’s emergency and budget reserve fund along with $300 million into the state’s pension fund.
The tax refunds are expected to cost $250 million, topping a smaller rebate proposal announced in January by Gov. David Ige, who suggested $100 rebates for people regardless of personal income at an expected cost of $110 million.
Ige also proposed putting $1 billion into the budget reserve account, which is also known as the state’s rainy day fund.
Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Sylvia Luke, chair of the House Finance Committee, announced the plan for the bigger tax rebates April 6. They cited an elevated need to provide relief to local taxpayers in light of inflation that has dramatically pushed up the cost of gas, food and other goods in recent months.
To provide for the tax rebates and the deposits into the post-employment benefits trust fund and rainy day fund, a bill introduced in 2021, Senate Bill 514, is being used.
SB 514 originally proposed the same three spending items but with unspecified amounts in 2021 and earlier this year. The spending amounts were added Friday.
“I think this is a really good, well-rounded bill,” Luke said at Friday’s meeting.
Joining Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu) and Dela Cruz (D, Wahiawa- Whitmore-Mililani Mauka) in voting on the conference draft of SB 514 Friday were Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D, Spreckelsville-Upcountry Maui) and Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran (D, Waihee- Wailuku-Kahului).
The bill is now positioned for final floor votes in the House and Senate next week. If approved, as expected, the bill would be delivered to Ige for his consideration.
It is not yet publicly clear as to whether the planned rebates, if enacted, would be delivered this year or if taxpayers would have to wait until they file their tax returns in 2023.
