Tax-take from Hawaii businesses up more than 10 percent
Tax agents inspected the general excise license at a jewelry store on King Street yesterday. Agents visited businesses in Maunakea Market Place and on Fort Street Mall in an effort to clamp down on vendors without licenses and those who fail to record cash transactions or give receipts.
Hawaii businesses paid 10.4 percent more in state and local taxes between July of 2012 and June of 2013, according to financial advisory firm Ernst & Young LLC.
Hawaii’s growth was the second-highest in the nation behind the 29.9 percent increase in taxes paid by businesses in North Dakota.
In all, the nation’s businesses paid $671 billion in total state and local taxes in fiscal 2013, according to Ernst & Young. Business taxes accounted for 44.9 percent of all state and local taxes during fiscal 2013, which is the lowest percentage since fiscal 2006. Business share peaked at 45.7 percent in fiscal 2007.
"We saw most categories of business taxes rise in FY2013," said Andrew Phillips, a principal in the Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST) group at Ernst & Young, in a statement. "In most states, increases were due to growth in property values, business incomes, and transactions subject to the sales tax."
