State taxes drop 6.5% in 5 months of fiscal year

The state says tax revenues for the first five months of this fiscal year are 6.5 percent below revenues recorded for the same period the previous fiscal year.

The state Department of Taxation said yesterday that revenue from general excise and use taxes, the largest category, decreased 7.3 percent during the five months beginning in July.

Transient accommodations tax, or hotel room tax, revenues are down 5.6 percent.

Individual income tax revenues are down 9.1 percent, while corporate income tax revenues are down 38.5 percent.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Cash reward to find killer of monk seal

LIHUE » A private organization is adding $3,000 to a $5,000 award offered by the federal government for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for killing a Hawaiian monk seal in April on Kauai.

The 5-year-old male was found shot to death on a remote beach near Kaumakani.

Dr. Carl Berg of the Surfrider Foundation Kauai Chapter says a previous award led to the arrest and conviction of a man who killed another monk seal on Kauai, so the organization wanted to try again.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement is offering the $5,000.

The Hawaiian monk seal is an endangered species. Only about 1,200 are believed to exist, and their population is declining about 4 percent each year.