Unfortunately, many of our friends and family no longer live here because of the high cost of living and lack of opportunity. I have aunts, uncles, and cousins that were born and raised here, but now live in the mainland because that’s the only place they could afford to own a home and have a better career.
This is similarly happening in New Zealand as I observed their political system and socialistic politics. It’s called a “brain drain” where ambitious young people go elsewhere for education and stay for better opportunities, so they move to Australia (or the mainland in our case) because their home is no longer able to accommodate their dreams. This needs to stop.
We need to diversify our economy and create more incentives for industries that our children can step into. Our high tax rates and regulations act as barriers to entry for most entrepreneurs. In just the film industry alone as a connected example here, Jason Momoa was running around in New Zealand pretending to be in Hawaii because my opponent harmed the film tax credit. Instead let’s provide new incentives for bidding industries that will employ and retain our workers.
Wages follow demand, and opportunity is created by demand and competition. Instead of pouring into already established industries like tourism, let’s invest in new ventures that will create higher rewarding jobs like high end manufacturing and tech. We heard about the microchip shortages, so why not create tax credits and incentives for producing them here as the small island nation Taiwan does? How about we inspire innovation and incentivize engineering and specialized education? On the other side of things, look at Singapore which specializes in being a shipping import/export center for Asia, and we in turn could create more competition and lower shipping costs for the rest of our goods?
I support workforce education programs that equip the students for the careers of their choice early (while still in high school). I love the running start program, and would support similarly setting aside grant funds for HS students to take college courses, or jump into pre-apprenticeship programs in trade school.
We need more fee-simple (individually owned) housing units available in the market. We need to make building cheaper and reduce permitting review times. Our planning/zoning laws also stipulate the quality and types of homes we have to build, and drive the cost to the $1,000,000 values we see. Perhaps we should look at lowering some of the requirements that are unnecessary, but just add cost. As a builder, I can tell you that every little detail adds cost.
Drastic times call for drastic measures. I believe that single-family housing should be owned by single families. I have advocated for conveyance tax adjustments to exempt the sale of real estate to owner occupants, while increasing the sale significantly for anyone or corporate entity purchasing single-family units that do not sign an affidavit pledging to live in it as their primary residence. What this will do is buy back purchasing power with the advantage in the hands of local families and residents, while encouraging investors to invest in businesses and commercial real estate instead of using our limited housing market as an investment vehicle. Let’s build equity for local families instead of focusing on lowering rent (which will follow).
I like the idea of a shot clock on permitting review, where the regulatory agencies are required to complete review within 60 days. This was proposed by the Grassroots Institute, and made some traction in the legislature in this past session. Enabling third-party review on all islands would be another way to expedite review times, and further relieve the strain on the county AHJ reviewers.
I support the elimination of GET tax on groceries, as Hawaii is one of only eight states in the nation that impose a full sales tax on food. I believe this is close to passing in the legislature already, but there are some opponents. However, I would help tip the scale and push to get it passed. I also at the same time would support creating incentives for expanding agricultural production and local farming to create more food, security and sustainability in our state as well.
I support the voucher system in which the state provides a tax credit, Grant, or funds to the parents to place their children in a school of their choice. This is proven to improve the educational system and states where it has been implemented, and perhaps we could allocate $4,000 to $8,000 per child in the budget per year.
I mentioned the GET exemption on food, but I believe we should also expand this to medical services. Hawaii is the ONLY state that charges a sales tax on medical services which is unnecessary.
Yes, I do believe Hawaii is a difficult place to do business. There are so many layers to this onion, but it’s as simple as getting government out of the way, reducing regulation and requirements for people to get a business started. We also need to remove unnecessary quotas on manufacturing that cap the industry.
We need to make a constitutional amendment to allow our people to vote for their Attorney General, sheriff, and school board members. Our governor has too much appointment power, and all of the appointee would seemingly owe too much to the one who appointed them, rather than accountability to voters.
Related Candidates
Kyle T. Yamashita
House District 12,No Response Received
Democrat
