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http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2017/0...e-to-rail/
Mayor Kim: Property Tax Increase Will be Necessary, Due To Rail
Pointing fingers... I doubt it's all about the rail. Most likely mismanaged funds. But, yeah, you haven't seen anything yet!
Wait till TMT pulls out... Big island will be huffing off of fumes wondering what went wrong.
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"This increase in TAT would be collected on all islands, even though the rail system is only located on Oahu," Kim wrote
This. Why? Yes, "because State", but why do we continue to put up with it?
Property tax makes up 70% of our County revenue. Even though mine just went up, I would still support an increase to fund that remaining 30% if County would grow a pair and take legal action against State on this issue.
While it's certainly possible that we are being "subsidized" (eg, receiving more from State than we pay to it in taxes), that seems less likely each year State decides to keep more of the money for themselves and their stupid train project.
Given how State does their accounting, I'm not even sure we can figure out which way the money is going.
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I had a bad feeling we on the BI we're going to get caught up in paying for Oahu's Rail . It doesn't seem right to me. It doesn't even seem fair that residents of Oahu are paying for a project that many won't live to see to completion. Fair doesn't seem to matter here.
When is Oahu going to fund anything for the BI?
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Always their answer is "increase taxes", never "cut spending". Who votes for these clowns?
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
Always their answer is "increase taxes", never "cut spending". Who votes for these clowns?
Government employees, direct and indirect beneficiaries of government contracts and government assistance, other liberals and democrats. So you can't statistically have a viable 2nd or 3rd party to keep them honest. Even within the democratic party you have the party elite calling the shots, funding tbeir candidates, etc. So voting is not a realistic avenue for change. You have to influence those already in power.
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You have to influence those already in power.
The alternative is to de-fund them (to the extent possible) by creating an alternative economy. Going off-grid is a good start.
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Practically, going off-grid has involved me pumping a lot of money and taxes into the local economy. At least my shack is not generating much tax revenue, but they get a cut of everything I buy in town. Maybe some day when my food forest is mature, and I put in the necessary work on my garden, and I use solar or wood for all my cooking and water heating, and I sell my car in favor of a bicycle...
Hard to stop feeding the beast!
I agree with the idea though, and expect to see you at the HA farmer's market buying your produce!
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That is actually inspiring.
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"This increase in TAT would be collected on all islands, even though the rail system is only located on Oahu," Kim wrote
Everybody seems to be ignoring the fact that the bill to do this failed, as did (as far as I can tell) all the others that were proposed to otherwise muck with the TAT. So what is Kim's excuse for raising property taxes?
