Re: Another Tax Hike



<beans@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1166223303-
sch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:20:17 -0000, "Jerry Okamura"
<okamuraj005@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Excise tax on everything from food to cars will soon increase 0.5
percent on
Oahu to fund a multibillion dollar rail project. Officials estimate
the tax
hike could cost a family of four about $450 a year.....

This of course hits the poor the hardest.

I was born on Oahu and there were no freeways. Over the decades it
has become a traffic snarling nightmare even to me.

We went to Europe this summer, rode the state supported trains in
Italy and France and made good use of the underground Tube in the UK.
They were awesome! ON TIME every time. The beautiful country side
sped by when we were on the faster trains. It was reasonable cost and
I was totally impressed.

I believe Oahu really needs the rail transit sytem and we've needed it
for years. Did you know many many decades ago Oahu had a train system
and eventually let the land go? The system was used as the Bus
system which I rode as a kid from Waipahu into town (Leeward Bus
System IIRC).

I really admire the guts of the Honolulu City Council to say yes. It
is so over due. It is just my own opinion but I think that the tenth
of a percent- excuse my math:) if my decimals are wrong-- is so
worthwhile. We all hate taxes but if we want our kids & grand kids to
have something superior, we have to pay for it now. I see no other
option.

Just my $.02 but I can't wait.

The assumption it seems to me, when you build to solve the problem like
transportation, is that the population will continue to increase.
"If" the
population actually decreases and not increases, then you have just
spent a
whole lot of money to build something that "may" beomce unneeded.

.