07-06-2015, 04:43 AM
same State and County that wants to raise the GE Tax, and won't access Federal Highway funds
County postures as merely wanting the "capability" to raise GET.
Federal highway funds are more nuanced: I suspect that Oahu is built out enough that these funds should rightly belong to the neighbor islands ... but Oahu is totally in charge of making sure that doesn't happen.
Solution to above is "distributed State government" -- monolithic Statehood simply doesn't work correctly with a discontiguous territory; the various Counties should be able to directly apply for and receive Federal highway grants, as well as make other decisions for themselves (eg, collect the TAT directly, prioritize law enforcement as makes sense, etc).
"One size" does not "fit all".
County postures as merely wanting the "capability" to raise GET.
Federal highway funds are more nuanced: I suspect that Oahu is built out enough that these funds should rightly belong to the neighbor islands ... but Oahu is totally in charge of making sure that doesn't happen.
Solution to above is "distributed State government" -- monolithic Statehood simply doesn't work correctly with a discontiguous territory; the various Counties should be able to directly apply for and receive Federal highway grants, as well as make other decisions for themselves (eg, collect the TAT directly, prioritize law enforcement as makes sense, etc).
"One size" does not "fit all".