on Taxation

[kalakoa]

we got way more than that

The base isn't growing fast enough to create more revenue, so we're still getting hit with tax increases.

Note that Maui is the only county which hasn't passed a GET surcharge.

[glinda]

Note that Maui is the only county which hasn't passed a GET surcharge.

I don't know the nuances of local gov on Maui compared to here, but I suspect Maui's higher appeal is more in keeping with a vacation destination economy. Maui has beaches and hasn't been shy about developing them as resort destinations. Maui is smaller and as such the overall infrastructure costs are lower. And when you cruz around their small cottage industry kind shops, art galleries, restaurants, etc, are full, brimming over in many cases, all day long. Walk around Paia, Lahaina, etc. And, on top of all that, Maui's property values are through the roof compared to ours.

When you compare what raw materials we could capitalize on as Maui its beaches, I suspect we missed the boat when we didn't get behind that undersea high voltage transmission cable back when it was on the table. All that geothermal would not have been pretty, and it would in the long run not have created a lot of jobs, but we would probably be flush with whatever surcharge we could have grabbed by being the source of all the energy it takes to run the state. But, no matter, we don't have what it takes to compete as a vacation destination, even though we are trying.

So, no mater what, less revenue stream, larger island demanding way more infrastructure, and now we have a thread about the sewage issue.. water issues.. it's always going to be the same.. Big Island.

[kalakoa]

Big Island problems are exacerbated by corruption that disguises itself as incompetent mismanagement constrained by stupid land-use policies.

The people who already got theirs see no problem with any of this, no need to change it.

[Mimosa]

In a few years the economy will tank .Thousands will leave - It is already starting on the continent .Cruise ship days we get 5K plus tourists spending BIG BUCKS. Goes into county coffers and part of this taxation goes to roads .Saddle is being worked on right now in several critical areas - Plenty new paving in Hilo . A very small blurb on one of the local news stations this evening said economy in Hawaii the state stagnating and slowing down,
It is welfare week so all prices go up in all stores for the next 2 weeks.
Grow food - no tax .
The economy here goes up for ten years and down for 8 years We are on the cusp of a down turn .
Mrs.Mimosa

[leilanidude]

In a few years the economy will tank .Thousands will leave - It is already starting on the continent
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No, it isn't. It is just the opposite. The economy is booming on the mainland. Read a Walll Street Journal report a couple weeks ago regarding the number of very long-term unemployed who have been re-entering the work force, by the tens of thousands of every month. If I recall, that number was 74,000 in January!

[kalakoa]

The economy is booming on the mainland.

How nice for them!

[Durian Fiend]

quote:

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Originally posted by leilanidude

In a few years the economy will tank .Thousands will leave - It is already starting on the continent
--------
No, it isn't. It is just the opposite. The economy is booming on the mainland. Read a Walll Street Journal report a couple weeks ago

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I think the truth is somewhere in between. Most projections are for a world wide slowdown in the year to come.

For instance- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy fell short of the Trump administration’s 3 percent annual growth target in 2018 despite $1.5 trillion in tax cuts and a government spending blitz, and economists say growth will only slow from here....

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I think the truth is somewhere in between.

Yes.
The economy is cyclical, as macro-economists Led Zeppelin once pointed out at a gathering I attended, loud enough so we in the audience would never forget:

Good times
Bad times
You know I’ve had my share

But yet we get through the bad times. Did vast numbers of people leave the islands in past economic recessions? Some did, but not enough to affect day to day life here.

[Mimosa]

We see it happening right now Wal - Mart nation wide letting go all greeters .Company towns in mid west laying off tens of thousands replaced by automation robots . Generations of family farms in mid west going under - HUGE auctions of all kinds of farm machinery .
Yes Boeing is hiring but most work now done by robots.
With no people to harvest the nations fruit n veg - thousands of acres left to rot.
We also read WSJ - Most of the 74K hired are low wage part time service jobs where humans have no health insurance and are pay check to pay check.
It is cyclical - and here we lag by about a year behind mainland .
This time coming up will be deeper and longer.
Just yesterday a nephew of ours is looking at lots with homes on them.Doing due diligence un permitted homes on 2 and 3 acre lots in OLE and HA - had been purchased a couple yrs ago for 100K to 200K are now listed the 45K to 65K range . We know personally several long time residents who asking way to much for their un permitted off grid homes and moving back to N.Idaho after 40+ years here.
We think 55K is a fair price - these families are asking 150K to 379K and they have no buyers as money is getting tight.
On Rd 8 in HA the lots on pavement are going for 23K to 50K .
One old timer Nam Vet friend got a V.A. loan and bought a really sweet place on Rd 8 for under 55K.
He was on mainland where unemployment and homeless and gangs rule the world.
In Wyoming whole towns going belly up .

No grocery for 125 miles -

So where do they all go ?

World wide recession we are on cusp of - good times now - soon though in a year maybe 2 max - we will get slammed .

Mrs.Mimosa

[rainyjim]

Whenever I find myself wondering why Hawaii is ‘the way it is’ I can just come to punaweb and read some of Mimosa’s posts - Dear Lord, help us.