Farmers Markets, Fire Ants, and Taxes (Ruggles)

[TomK]

"Do you have recommendations on how that would be?"

What does that question mean? Would you please clarify? It makes no sense as it's written.

[PaulW]

If the government wants more tax they should be encouraging vacation rentals and enforcing the rules. The flow of money there is just getting started.

And of course get rid of their own inefficiencies and lack of enforcement (as Carey said) but I won’t hold my breath.

Taxing people extra based on where they live or the color of their skin doesn’t sit right with me.

[randomq]

Lots of countries have higher taxes for foreign owners, no reason we can't.

[kalakoa]

Yes: the real problem is government bloat, not whether everyone is paying their fair share to support that bloat. There is certainly some revenue to be found by rescinding undeserved agricultural exemptions, or taxing out-of-state speculators at a higher rate, or raising the GET, or increasing the vehicle registration fee ... but when the unions "collectively bargain" their mandatory raises next year, taxes will go up to match, again.

Consider the bus system as an example: out of 50 buses, only 19 are running; in the meanwhile, County simply outsources to the tour operators at a cost of a few million more dollars. The new baseyard still isn't open. We're supposed to believe that all these problems will magically disappear if only we give them MORE money?

Look at the building permitting process. Somehow, each application for a standard HPM kit home is treated as an entirely new idea, with never-before-seen engineering challenges which need months of review. Again, we're told that if we just hire more plan-checkers, they can maybe cope with the ridiculous backlog of permit applications. Really?

Planning is even simpler: if the answer will always be "no, you can't do that", then that function can be performed by a single part-time employee.

Other states have discovered a huge new revenue stream in legalized marijuana, which can be regulated and taxed. If we're going to have more permits and more taxes anyway, why not create a new industry with new revenues?

[leilanidude]

quote:

---

Originally posted by glinda

quote:

---

Originally posted by leilanidude

If you tax those second homes, etc. too much, people will stop building them...

---

That's ridiculous. Hawaii has the cheapest property taxes in the nation.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-th...xes/11585/

Doubling, even tripling out of state home owner's taxes would not stop one house from being built.

---

That chart does not take into account the homeowner's exemption, which all non-residents don't get - and pay much higher amounts. Those non-residents are already paying much more.

If they raise property taxes on non owner occupied homes - rents go up. This again affects the poor the most.

[kalakoa]

If they raise property taxes on non owner occupied homes - rents go up. This again affects the poor the most.

Isn't that why we have an "affordable rental" property tax class? Maybe just change the definition of "affordable" to include low-wage workers?

Better yet, change the exemption that allows "large landowners" to be taxed at $3/acre while denying development because "the land is too valuable" -- if it's really only worth $3/acre, I'll take (looks through wallet) 50 acres.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

if it's really only worth $3/acre

Years ago on Maui, the Grand Wailea Resort had managed to grandfather in one of their parcels, an acre of sandy beachfront property at an assessment of $12,000. One year the county came in and tried to raise it to a more appropriate level, in the millions of dollars. The hotel brought in their attorneys to argue with facts and figures as to why even $12,000 could be considered excessively high. The county said OK, we'll buy it from you.

The assessment finally went up that year.

Recycle Puna. Humans, although probably not you personally, have already left 400,000 pounds of trash on the moon. - YouTube's Half As Interesting

[Carey]

HB 100 Farmers Market for Pahoa at the Pahoa Park has received a positive recommendation from the county:
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2018/0...-location/