Richard Borreca

4 days ago | staradvertiser.com | Richard Borreca

Hawaii’s state Legislature ended the annual session by making history with a new tax and then making a scene by shuffling some of the jobs held by legislative leaders. First, at the behest of Gov. Josh Green, legislators pushed up the hotel room tax from 10.25% to 11% starting in January. Green wants this new money. He campaigned on the issue, saying he will use it for environmental protection and strengthening defenses against natural disasters fueled by the climate crisis.

1 week ago | staradvertiser.com | Richard Borreca

Sometimes raising taxes becomes a politically good thing. For instance, Gov. Josh Green has won the hard battle for his new tax bill as the state Legislature closes the current session. The early indications show the first-term governor came away with a big victory by raising taxes. And the Legislature is adjourned, but expected to return later in the year.

2 weeks ago | staradvertiser.com | Richard Borreca

Gambling in Hawaii is a 50-50 choice. Decades of polling show that about half of the folks don’t like it — and the rest love it, or have mixed feelings, but don’t hate it. So what is a politician to do? The most popular reaction to questions about legalizing gambling is to call for a study. The churches and the county prosecutor are against gambling, with polls going back decades showing the voters split.

3 weeks ago | staradvertiser.com | Richard Borreca

Even in the quiet, before the closing-day speeches in the first days of May, this year’s state Legislature is significant. The promise is that they will be back for a special session. The Legislature last convened a special session in 2017 to address rail project funding. Now the new dates for the special session being considered are August, September or November. Legislative leaders think by then more information could be available.

1 month ago | staradvertiser.com | Richard Borreca

Here are some questions that many folks across the USA should be able to answer: When is tax day? As in when are your taxes due? Or, what does April 15th mean to you? Yes, April 15 is coming right up. As you can imagine, there is nothing simple or uncomplicated when talking about taxes. Surprisingly, the simplest information about the bad news about taxes in Hawaii comes from the state Tax Department (https://tax. hawaii.gov/blog/blog14-comparing-hawaii-income-taxes).