Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Wednesday, March 10, 1999
Kokua Line
I went to a car dealership and was negotiating to buy a car. They told me they had to pay a half-percent tax in addition to the 4.166-percent general-excise tax, so that cost had to be figured into the price. Is that legal -- to charge me more than 4.166 percent tax? Auto dealers may pass
state use tax to buyersOn the face of it, yes, said June Yamamoto, chief of the state Taxpayer Services Branch.
A dealer bringing in a car to Hawaii for retail sale has to pay a state use tax of 0.5 percent on the landed value of a car.
The state use tax is "levied upon the landed value of tangible personal property imported into Hawaii," Yamamoto explained.
In your case, the landed value is the value the car had at the time it arrived in Hawaii "and generally includes the cost of the vehicle to the dealer plus shipping, handling and other related costs," she said.
If the dealer disclosed that the price included the 0.5 percent Hawaii use tax and the amount does not exceed the actual use tax due, "then it is our presumption that the visible passing on of the 0.5 percent use tax, in addition to the 4.166 percent visibly passed on and represented to be the Hawaii general excise tax, is allowable," Yamamoto said.
If you have any complaints about what a business is charging as tax, or how they are computing taxes, contact the state Office of Consumer Protection, 587-3222.
The Star-Bulletin recently had an article about the Japanese American war memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. What is the address and name of the foundation or organization collecting the money? And is the contribution tax deductible?
GTE Hawaiian Tel President Warren H. Haruki is leading local efforts to help raise $8.6 million to build the National Japanese American Memorial.
Send donations to: National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, 1726 M Street, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Donors of an outright cash gift may deduct the amount from federal income taxes up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income.
Contributions may also be in the form of securities, real estate and appreciated stocks and bonds.
For details, call the foundation at 202-861-8845.
The memorial is planned for construction on a triangle of federal land between the U.S. Capitol and Union Station.
It will honor the patriotism of Japanese Americans during World War II, despite the fact that 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were interned for up to four years.
Pearl Harbor Kai third-graders would like to thank the following people for taking time to make our "School to Work" visit informative and educational: Haward Kawasaki, head of security at Ala Moana Center; guard Phil Melno; optician Ikeda of LensCrafters; Cheryl Minaai and Jody Kanemaru of Versace; Geraldine of Charles Jourdan and the employees of Ben Bridges. We appreciate their support for education. -- Mrs. Fujie, Mrs. Lui, Mrs. Niino, Mrs. Ota Mahalo
To the Aloha Stadium official who minimized the problem of women going into the men's restrooms. Some things cannot be left up to people's common sense. If the situation were reversed and men were leering at women in the women's restrooms, you can bet something would have been done by now. How about removing the stall doors or providing only urinals for the men? This will stop the problem. Maybe those men who need to use the toilet can use the ones in the women's restrooms and wait in their lines as well. Anything to stop this embarrassing problem! -- No name Auwe
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fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
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