Green suggests Hawaiʻi might scale back on income tax cuts

Devin Thomas, director of tax and budget for the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said his organization has been quietly advocating for rolling back the tax cuts, particularly for high earners.

A major rationale for the income tax cuts in the first place was to help lower income families who are struggling with the cost of living in Hawaiʻi, “so really there’s no need to be extending these tax cuts to the higher brackets,” Thomas said.

He said there seems to be an understanding among many lawmakers that the state would not be able to afford the entire package of tax cuts when it fully took effect.

“No one wants to be the first to step forward and say it out loud,” Thomas said, “because it’s not a popular thing.”