Newswatch
The deferral of the 4 percent general excise tax for the two neighbor islands is a part of the tax-relief package that highlighted Cayetano's recent State of the State message.
Neither the speech, Cayetano's tax moratorium bill or testimony on the measure yesterday by Seiji Naya, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, mentioned the charge.
Naya disclosed the administration's plans during an interview with the Star-Bulletin. He earlier told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that the tax-moratorium bill, aimed at boosting the flat Kauai and Molokai economies, will be rewritten and resubmitted to the panel.
The need to rework the bill raised questions about whether the measure was rushed without being fully considered. Naya insisted that was not the case.
He would only be able to push for initiatives that are "revenue neutral" or that cause the least revenue loss, Cayetano said. They would be:
Elimination of the $27-per-person food tax credit and its replacement with lower tax rates for low-income taxpayers.
Permitting small businesses on Kauai and Molokai to defer payment of their 4 percent general excise tax for 18 months.
Cayetano said he may be able to move his plan for a maximum $50,000 deduction for long-term health care expenses to help with the high cost of caring for the elderly.
Shoved into limbo would be Cayetano's initiatives to:
Establish a 4 percent tax credit to encourage hotel renovations statewide to boost the tourism industry.
Exempt from the excise tax work done by architects, engineers and planners on international projects.
Provide a tax credit of $4,000, or 2 percent of a new home purchase price, whichever is less, for first-time home buyers who buy this year and next year.
Permit a maximum $5,000 tax deduction for college and vocational school tuitions for four consecutive years for families earning as much as $150,000 annually.
The report, released last week, followed a 3-1/2-year-long battle by the University of Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and a Nov. 15 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that the information be released to the student group.
"Disclosure of this information has to lead to better enforcement of police discipline and hopefully to improve conduct on the part of those few police officers who have engaged in serious conduct which is just not acceptable," said Jeff Portnoy, the lawyer representing the student journalists.
The report contains the names of officers disciplined from Jan. 1, 1991, to October 1993, but does not include police officers who may be appealing action against them.
In addition to the names of the disciplined officers, the report lists the dates the offenses occurred and a brief summary of the violations and action taken against the officers.
One or two officers appear more than once, and one is named at least four times, Portnoy said.
The suspensions range from one day for technical violations to 20 days for serious misconduct, including assaults on prisoners and motorists and firearms violations, he said.
Portnoy said the report contradicts arguments by attorneys for the police union that most officers were disciplined for late reports.
"The reality is a very significant percentage are for very egregious conduct," he said.
Officers spotted the three 14-year-olds leaving the Baldueza Mini Mart on Makule Road just after midnight carrying cigarettes, police said.
The youths were released to their parents.
The suspect was identified in a photo line-up as a man who held up a clerk at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center business.
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