THIS has always been my least favorite month -- and it's not because of the lousy weather or the rising crescendo of bickering over at the state Capitol. Blame my blue funk on that ominous-sounding date, April 15, the federal deadline for confronting one of only two inevitable things in life. Why it is the most
taxing time of the yearRemember, though, that some folks actually look forward to dying. Nobody looks forward to paying taxes.
It is a painful, stressful exercise in self-torture, courtesy of federal, state and county governments. There is no joy in examining a W-2 form and realizing that thousands of dollars have been diverted from a personal paycheck to an amorphous, massive entity known as democracy in action.
We all love our country 'tis of thee. Yeah, yeah, we appreciate living in the greatest nation on Earth.
But the exasperation level among Hawaii taxpayers is beginning to reach excruciating heights. Maybe it's because the concept behind paying taxes has been mangled into an unrecognizable mess.
It used to be a simple enough premise. We forgo some of our money so that other people can attend to the things that need attending to -- like running the public schools, making this a pleasant place to live, and even helping to look after the less fortunate members of society.
By agreeing to such magnanimity, the lowly taxpayer was made the highest player on the totem hierarchy, because that person's paycheck helped fund a gargantuan army of government workers.
These days, however, it's a whole different story. Notice all the okole-kissing that's going on to appease the unions representing public-sector employees? Good grief, who's our governor, anyway: Ben Cayetano or Gary Rodrigues?
First, Rodrigues of the United Public Workers union makes a big stink about privatizing state contracts. "Privatizing" -- you know the word. That's when a real-life business, which has to make a profit and be efficient, is allowed to perform a task or service.
Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? It's worked before, until the state Supreme Court came out with its most recent screwy ruling.
Instead of righting this obvious wrong, however, the state Senate decided to take the wishy-washy way out. It approved a bill to provide a year-long moratorium on the issue, so that it doesn't have to deal with possibly peeving the politically powerful UPW.
Wait, it only gets worse. Now Governor Cayetano, once the bulldog of Kalihi, is playing poodle. He is proposing to reduce the work week of government employees from 40 to 35 hours, since the state can't afford to give them any pay raises.
REDUCED work week? Pay raises? In one of the worst economies in recent memory? At a time when the state budget deficit is in the high six-figure millions of dollars?
It's suggestions like this that send most taxpayers right through the proverbial roof around this time of year. How about living in the real world like the rest of us, a place where layoffs, pay cuts and shorter work hours weren't "suggested" but simply implemented?
Honestly, the majority of residents don't mind paying taxes all that much. But they certainly do mind kowtowing, or watching the governor kowtow, to those who are supposed to be the servants of the people.
To death and taxes, add a third inevitability: taxpayer remorse.