![]() ![]() ![]() On the other hand, Kouchi pointed out that lawmakers have already dismissed some high-profile tax proposals. “We need to keep some vehicles in play for consideration and long-range planning,” he said. “And certainly what the Congress does, and President Biden, is going to have a significant impact on those kind of revenue decisions in the budget.”Įven if the federal bailout covers most of the state budget shortfall for the next two years, economists expect Hawaii’s economic recovery will take four years, Kouchi said. “We’re expecting Congress to act, and so before some of the decisions are going to be made I think we’ll get an idea of what federal help might be possibly coming,” Kouchi said. That federal aid package is so important that the state House and Senate have adjusted their internal deadlines to give the House Finance Committee an extra week to digest the final federal product and its impact on the state budget, said Senate President Ron Kouchi. ![]() David Ige and lawmakers say that will ease the state’s immediate money woes. Passage of many or most of those measures may depend on the heft of the new federal aid package, and the restrictions that Congress writes into the new law.įor example, if the new package provides a sizable lump of cash for the state to spend as it wishes, Gov. Lawmakers at the Hawaii State Capitol are readying tax increases in case a federal relief package fails to make it through. There is a proposal to suspend excise tax exemptions and increase the corporate income tax, bills to tax e-cigarettes, and bills to increase taxes on car rentals. There is a bill to increase state income taxes, bills that would boost the state inheritance tax, and bills to increase the state capital gains tax. But if the federal aid package turns out to be more stingy, the Legislature may go on a hungry hunt for money. If the new COVID-19 pandemic aid package being negotiated in Congress this week is generous, there will be less pressure on Hawaii lawmakers to raise state taxes. As Hawaii lawmakers approach the midpoint of this year’s session, they are positioning a variety of tax increase bills for passage later in the session, just in case they are needed.īut whether those tax hikes finally pass this year will depend largely on what happens in Washington, D.C. ![]()
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