If only such advice were also given when raising taxes (“Move ahead with care on tax relief,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, Feb. 23). Almost everything in Hawaii is taxed, whether through the income tax, general excise tax (GET), fees or property taxes; gas, electricity, even Girl Scout cookies.
Yet when it comes to tax relief, that’s a whole ’nother story. There is a list a mile long of absolutely needed programs to be implemented to help the workforce and the poor. We need a new stadium, we need to fix the convention center roof, we need rail, and the list goes on and on.
With the state’s $2 billion surplus, largely due to COVID money from the federal government, it’s time to pay equally all the people of Hawaii, and cut the 0.5% GET increase for rail on Oahu for all the residents and tourists alike.
As Chief Justice John Marshall said, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.”
Earl F. Arakaki
Ewa Beach
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