ACA may distract IRS, but not for long

Turns out there’s an upside to all the confusion over Obamacare and the tax repercussions thereof. Changes to the tax code, including those associated with the Affordable Care Act, are causing enough of a distraction at the Internal Revenue Service that they are a bit swamped this year.

Could that mean that little flaws in our tax filings, due today, might be overlooked? It could. But don’t hang too many of your hopes on that. The IRS has three years to find your errors, so the auditors could catch up by then.

And anyone missing the tax filing deadline is sure to be snagged right away. The taxman may be busy, but he’s not stupid.

It’s not what Inouye wanted; it’s what you want

Gov. Neil Abercrombie caused a bit of political buzz, to be expected in an election year. But the extra drama here arose from his expressed doubts about the letter dispatched shortly before the death of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. That’s the one voicing a preference that Colleen Hanabusa, now in Congress, succeed him.

Everyone already knew Inouye backed Hanabusa, said Abercrombie, who named Brian Schatz to the seat instead. The governor told the Los Angeles Times that construing the letter as a deathbed wish was "problematic."

That’s for sure. It’s still unclear exactly who took the reportedly dictated letter and when that happened.

But the bottom line, as we see it, is people should vote for the candidate preferred by them, not Inouye. The senator’s wish rightly becomes an issue only if the candidates make it one.