Small Business Hawaii | Volume 23 Number 2 | January 1998
Sam Slom is also a State Senator from the 8th District (Waialae Iki to Hawaii Kai)
and has a website at this URL: http://hotspotshawaii.com/sam/slom.html
Sam Slom is also a State Senator from the 8th District (Waialae Iki to Hawaii Kai)
and has a website at this URL: http://hotspotshawaii.com/sam/slom.html
 Happy '98, "Year of the Tiger," a very good year in Chinese lore. This will be the year the Legislature must deal with the economy, a Constitutional Convention will be held, and the most important elections in Hawaii's recent history. During the past few years attempts by local interests - including some small businesses - were made to block Eagle Hardware, K-Mart, WalMart, and other "Big Box Retailers." Past efforts paled by comparison to the all-out assault on Home Depot, from Mainland businesses who felt they were wronged and wanted to "warn" local businesses, to a local alliance against the retail giant. Eagle only has one store on Oahu; Home Depot has announced two (Pearl City and Iwilei) with more than a dozen planned later. Businesses, especially small businesses already reeling from 7 years of economic downturn are understandably upset. But efforts to keep out competition are misplaced and generally futile. The real culprit is, and has been, our Hawaii government and its policies of taxation, regulation and land use. Even in the current example, the City & County of Honolulu bent over backwards to "assist" Home Depot with land use, general plan and zoning variances, local businesses never get, because the Mainland firm has big bucks to help bail the City out of yet another land debacle. Tax and regulatory breaks for Mainland and Asian businesses are unfair to local business who should take their frustration and anger out at the ballot box. First, the "dumb" public didn't understand the bank and union "Thumbs Up!" propaganda campaign. And we didn't understand the Bankoh CEO's threat to give money only to those politicians who support totally the Governor's version of economic reforms (some called it "bribery"). Now, the Economic Task Force, who once again retreated behind closed doors December 10, ignored feedback from its working committees and 17 town meetings, emerging to say, all the criticism about their 34% GET tax increase was unfounded and only because the public needs more education. Who is "dumb" here? Who doesn't get it? The "dumb" public won't forget those trying to ram this tax hike down the public throat when several preferable alternatives exist. And by the way, about that 17% proposed Transient Accommodation Tax (TAT) "hotel room" increase: remember when you travel to another Island and stay in a hotel YOU are a "tourist" and would pay an additional 12.35%. The Task Force is like the Korean tour bus driver who drove his bus into a concrete ceiling in a new section of Ala Moana Shopping Center. The driver told police after the accident, that he read the ceiling height, and knew his bus was higher - but only a little higher - so he thought he could make it fit. It's time we take warning signs seriously and stop trying to force square tax pegs into round holes. What is Japan is doing: Cutting Taxes! Continuing unrest at the Department of Labor's HIOSH division. They try to play it down in letters to the editor, but there are real problems between the current admin head and some dedicated, ethical, safety inspectors who don't like to be given "quotas." All the PR spin doctoring won't change what's going on. Watch for a possible federal lawsuit. The Daniel K. Inouye/George Ariyoshi Memorial H-3 Interstate Highway finally opened December 12 after only 34 years of construction and lawsuits, and at a bargain cost of $1.3 billion for the 16 miles into the scenic beauty of Moanalua Valley. Taxpayers should take every opportunity to drive on the H-3 in order to get their money's worth. My Goddaughter mailed me a letter from New Jersey to Kalama Valley, Hawaii Kai. She transposed the 96825 zip code to 98625 and the letter came to me via a cancellation in Kalama, Washington. The truth is out there... Some have suggested that since former Speaker of the House Daniel Kihano has been convicted of several federal campaign crimes, his portrait should be removed from the Capitol. That's petty. It probably should just be updated with a number and stripes. SBH reminds you to look at the amount of taxes and FEES on various commodities -gasoline for example - to see where your money goes. While individual fees may be small by themselves, they are becoming more frequent and add up when totalled. A check of your current monopoly cable TV bill reveals the following: "Hawaii franchise fee; Hawaii access fee; Hawaii HPBA fee, and FCC reg. fee plus General Excise Tax." These usually account for10% or more of your bill depending on how many services you order. Look at your monopoly telephone bill (yes, I know, competition is coming...someday) and you find fees for: "interstate subscriber line charge; PUC service fee; Intrastate Surcharge; Telecommunications relay services; Statewide 9-1-1 Emergency Service Surcharge; Rural Service Program, and of course, the "temporary" (since WWII) Federal excise tax. Check other bills. Sympathy to Sen. Mary George's family. Don't forget to register for the 22nd Annual January 14 SBH Business Conference featuring Mayor Linda Lingle, Governor Ben Cayetano, Randy Roth, Judge Sam King and others. Start the New Year with information that will help you do more business. Begin refreshed and optimistic that with Divine guidance, and renewed effort, 1998 will be the year to Make Hawaii Work Again. Aloha!
 Small Business News comments can be addressed to:
Small Business Hawaii SBH also accepts articles relating to small business issues about its members and Hawaii. Submit your articles to SBH by the 10th of the month for publication into the next month's issue.
E-Mail:macpro3000@yahoo.com Be sure to include the letters SBH in the subject header of any email sent to Small Business Hawaii. This requirement is due to the growing number of unsolicitated commercial email spam that the webmaster does not like. Small Business News is part of The Hawai`i NewsList family of internet features. Select this link for more information on how to subscribe.
Editor: Sam Slom
Hosted on: H4, Hawai`i's Data SuperHighway
Top of this Page | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 4 | SBH Calendar
Copyright 1998 Small Business Hawaii. All rights reserved. |