Transformative change meets budget realities—a central lawmaking tension plays out in two new reports
Policy in Perspective 2025 and the Hawaiʻi Budget Primer FY2025–26 provide a compelling—and sometimes sobering—look at how Hawaiʻi invests, and often under-invests, in its communities.
Incoming federal tax cuts will heavily favor Hawaiʻi’s wealthiest residents
The State of Hawaiʻi has an obligation to shore up its revenue through tax policies that make the wealthiest among us pay their fair share.
Hawaiʻi’s 2025 legislature focused on raising tax revenue to prepare for federal cuts
Assessing a proper tax rate on corporations and the wealthy will be necessary to produce a budget that can fund critical safety net programs and investments in our future.
Hawaiʻi should close tax loopholes for multinational corporations
Multinational corporations make huge profits from the business activity they conduct in Hawaiʻi, while dodging the taxes they should be paying to support our state.
Honolulu council should take time, consider whether Bill 45 is a good investment
While the stated purpose of Bill 45 is to promote economic growth, there is no way to show that providing the additional incentives in Bill 45 would be a cost-effective use of the city’s funds.
Our tax system increases inequity
Our tax system plays a big role in the widening gap between those who are wealthy and those who are struggling to get by—a gap that is exponentially greater in Black, brown and indigenous communities.
Trump’s tax cuts gave Hawaiʻi’s rich a windfall; recapturing it would help our economy
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act worsened economic inequality. It’s time to ask the households that benefitted the most from that windfall to contribute more to the common good.