Lack of fairness
Lack of fairness
I am mystified by county government’s confusion about how/where to increase county tax income (“Some tax, fee hikes on table,” Tribune-Herald, April 12).
Consideration is being given to increases on property taxes, gas taxes, permit fees and a half-cent general excise tax surcharge, with Mayor Harry Kim suggesting “maybe this,” Aaron Chung suggesting ‘”maybe that” and Karen Eoff suggesting “maybe something else.”
Before we consider further tax increases on already overburdened taxpayers, let’s first look at the numbers you report: 35,689 property owners paid the $100 minimum (or less), while the remaining 105,169 paid their full share.
That means 25 percent of Hawaii County property owners are getting a tax-free ride on the backs of the remaining 75 percent. If this scofflaw 25 percent of owners were paying their full civic share, the county tax haul would grow by more than 30 percent. That would be more than enough to cover our outrageous public employee income/benefit costs, with plenty left over for other public purposes.
My suggestion is that county government repair a broken property tax system, where a quarter of property owners get off virtually scot-free, before considering tax increases on the 75 percent of owners who already are paying more than their fair share.
Skip Sims
Ninole
‘Hate columns’
Yes, I agree with David Hudson’s letter regarding columnist Kathleen Parker’s blatant attack on first lady Melania Trump (Tribune-Herald, April 1). Parker’s comments were unprecedented and totally uncalled for. I, too, used to enjoy her column until a few months ago, then she suddenly went politically biased and began her attacks on President Donald Trump and his family. I now view her writings as nothing short of hate columns!
However, let’s get to the source of our exposure to her column — along with others, such as Paul Krugman and Dana Milbank — that our Tribune-Herald publisher/editor deigns to publish on a near daily basis. That publisher/editor, in my opinion, is solely responsible for this newspaper and he openly condones such hate columns by publishing them.
In my opinion, it is an editor’s job to see to it that his publication is news and other worthwhile articles — not as convenient extension reflecting his/her own political convictions.
I long for the days gone by when the Tribune-Herald was a newspaper instead of a sounding board for hate columns!
Ron Baptista
Mountain View