LETTERS for the Feb. 23 issue
Council story was spot on
I want to commend Susan Halas for her article in the Feb 9-15 edition, “Lee elected chair of Maui Council after epic 18-hour meeting.”
Her account of this contentious meeting was spot on. She dared go where Honolulu Civil Beat and Maui News or Mauinow.com failed to go in describing the influence behind the new majority that rules over the current council accurately, referring to the new majority who favors a pro-growth, pro-tourism agenda.
There was a large turnout of testifiers that voiced their opposition to the limits on giving testimony, and to the two bills to override the veto of former Mayor Victorino about affordable housing and Native Hawaiian rights.
The majority-ruled council failed to heed the opinions and solutions posed by the testifiers. This is likely to set the pace of future legislation.
ANN PITCAITHLEY, Wailuku
Beaches are public land
It was sometime in the early or mid-1970s, under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, that it was determined the high water mark of the beaches in Hawaii come at least 20 feet from the ocean’s usual “edge,” and that is all considered therein to be PUBLIC BEACH access, therefore, PUBLIC LAND.
Unless something has changed since then, HOAs cannot fairly stop people from going into the ocean. If there is a public access beach trail established, then the less-than-favorable HOAs are presented to abide by it and not try to close it off. End of story.
ELLEN GARRISON, Honokowai
Keep Lahaina’s restrooms and waterfront clean
To anyone that can help at the City of Lahaina: We visited the waterfront restrooms twice — once to use them and once to check them again two weeks later. The conditions had not changed much from my first visit. My wife said the women’s restrooms were just as disappointing, too. Both of the men’s urinals were missing, and of the four toilets on my first visit, only two were functional. On my second visit, three of the four were functional. The fourth was a handicap toilet and was unusable, having the lid missing and the floor flooded.
The restroom conditions required by vacationers need to be in good operating condition at all times. The condition can leave an everlasting impression on those who come to Lahaina and Maui to see the boat harbor and use our restrooms.
Also, the general condition of the waterfront boat docks needs to be addressed, too. At one slip, a homeless man has made a shelter. Conditions could be a whole lot better.
The City of Lahaina needs to keep these restrooms in good repair to accommodate the public. We want the vacationers to have a good experience and impression when leaving Maui and of our city.
I got a parking ticket, which I deserved. It cost me $35. I suggest increasing the parking ticket price to $45 or $55 to vacationers, not locals, to help cover the cost to maintain the restroom and clean the waterfront area. Like me, I deserved the ticket, but the restrooms I will remember.
LEON & BARBARA PEARCE, Vacationers/Condo Owners, Campbell, California
Biden is right: You shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than billionaires
In his third State of the Union address, President Joe Biden renewed his call for a billionaire minimum income tax, demanding Congress take action on a broken tax system that rewards wealth over work.
“Pass my proposal for a billionaire minimum tax,” Biden proclaimed. “Because no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter.”
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, U.S. billionaire wealth has increased by a staggering $1.5 trillion to a collective $4.48 trillion. Many of those huge billionaires’ gains will go untaxed under current rules — and will disappear entirely for tax purposes when they’re passed onto the next generation.
Under the billionaire minimum income tax, billionaires would pay a tax rate of at least 20 percent on their full income, including unrealized appreciation, just like workers pay taxes on their paychecks each year.
According to the White House, the tax will apply only to the top 0.01 percent of American households, which currently includes those worth over $100 million. Over half of the revenue generated from the tax will come from households worth more than $1 billion.
And while Republicans are eyeing cuts to Medicare and Social Security as a means to address the federal deficit, a billionaire minimum income tax would not only make America’s tax code fairer. White House officials estimate it would reduce the deficit by about $360 billion over the next decade.
While public support for a billionaire minimum income tax is very strong, the probability of it passing a Republican-controlled House of Representatives is highly unlikely given the GOP’s aversion to targeting the pockets of their most generous donors. But federal gridlock provides state governments an opportunity to take income inequality into their own hands.
Voters in Massachusetts, for example, recently elected to amend their state’s constitution to levy a 4 percent surtax on all individuals with annual income of one million dollars or more. The Fair Share Amendment — or “millionaire’s tax,” as it is known colloquially — is expected to generate an additional $1.2 billion to $2 billion per year, which the commonwealth plans to invest in public education and transportation.
Similar wealth tax proposals are on the table in other states across the country, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Washington.
The astonishing, unequal wealth gains amid a global pandemic renewed public appetite for increasing taxes on billionaires — a significant majority of Americans believe billionaires are taxed too little.
If Congress won’t take action, state governments should make good on President Biden’s proposals and take meaningful steps towards rebalancing the tax code. Let’s ensure that everyone, including the ultra-wealthy, pay their fair share.
REBEKAH ENTRALGO, OtherWords.org