09-29-2023, 07:06 PM
Did some snooping...
TMKs of the area the fire may have initially started in:
4-6-018-017-0000 State of Hawaii
4-6-018-024-0000 Bishop Estate
Notable the Bishop Estate land is 1137 acres with an estimated value of $3.7M and paying $21k/yr in taxes. Many homes in Lahaina on less than 1/5 acre were valued around $1M. If you do the math:
Bishop estates land in Lahaina was valued at around $3000/Acre and taxed at $18 /acre /year! Imagine $3000 an acre on Maui? That's like 15x less expensive than land in Puna! And in Puna we pay hundreds per acre in taxes, not $18!
Maybe by the grace of God or the State of Hawaii the fire didn't touch the Bishop side of the downed poles, however unlikely. Even then, we should discuss how little we are charging these large estates to sit on fallow land, how that land could solve the housing (and rebuilding) crisis in Maui, and how fair taxation on the land would either benefit the public, or encourage the landholders to sell it for more productive and less combustible uses.
We literally have working homeless that can't find housing or land to build, while old money oligarchs sit on thousands of acres either doing nothing with them, or leasing small portions to business for income.
If the state doesn't do something about this, then they are just paying lip service to workers and families while bowing down to their wealthy masters
TMKs of the area the fire may have initially started in:
4-6-018-017-0000 State of Hawaii
4-6-018-024-0000 Bishop Estate
Notable the Bishop Estate land is 1137 acres with an estimated value of $3.7M and paying $21k/yr in taxes. Many homes in Lahaina on less than 1/5 acre were valued around $1M. If you do the math:
Bishop estates land in Lahaina was valued at around $3000/Acre and taxed at $18 /acre /year! Imagine $3000 an acre on Maui? That's like 15x less expensive than land in Puna! And in Puna we pay hundreds per acre in taxes, not $18!
Maybe by the grace of God or the State of Hawaii the fire didn't touch the Bishop side of the downed poles, however unlikely. Even then, we should discuss how little we are charging these large estates to sit on fallow land, how that land could solve the housing (and rebuilding) crisis in Maui, and how fair taxation on the land would either benefit the public, or encourage the landholders to sell it for more productive and less combustible uses.
We literally have working homeless that can't find housing or land to build, while old money oligarchs sit on thousands of acres either doing nothing with them, or leasing small portions to business for income.
If the state doesn't do something about this, then they are just paying lip service to workers and families while bowing down to their wealthy masters