Rich non-residents should pay more

I always enjoy Lee Cataluna’s wonderful pieces about Hawaii, but the recent one describing the plight of the middle class here on our island especially touched me (“Voices of working folk have grown eerily quiet,” Star-Advertiser, March 5).

It’s sad to realize that the folks who actually do the everyday work to support the economy and culture of this town find it increasingly difficult to enjoy a simple life here.

Rather than hiking the taxes on middle-class income, why aren’t we making the owners of the multimillion-dollar condos in the glass boxes springing up in Kakaako pay a steep price for their second or third residence, or for a safe place to park their excess cash?

Why not a tax surcharge for non-residents owning condos appraised at more than $1 million? If that serves to slow down building for the super-rich or motivate development of more affordable residences for local people, so much the better.

David Davis

Ala Moana

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Don’t surrender to premature death

One of the most passionate voices in favor of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is well-known lobbyist John Radcliffe.

Ironically, he admits, “I should have died (of stage 4 colon and liver cancer) by July of 2016 and here it is February of 2017. So far, so good.”

This is precisely the problem with PAS: that no one can predict one’s life expectancy, even in the case of terminal illness.

So in retrospect, Radcliffe would not have been a candidate for PAS because here he is, still alive and productive, long after the so-called “death within six months” safeguard.

PAS for him would have resulted in a premature death. Best wishes to him as he courageously continues this journey.

Don’t give up. Keep believing, “so far, so good.”

Bill Fong

Makiki

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ADUs more intrusive than vacationers

The vacation rental opponents are interesting to me. They had no problem with the passage of legislation regarding accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Now streets are congested with cars on both sides 24/7/365, leaving little room for emergency vehicles — not to mention higher noise levels and the impact on infrastructure, including the sewage system. But they have a problem with the occasional vacation renter?

I don’t get it. Vacation rentals are usually not 100 percent occupied every month. Vacationers don’t bring pets. And the occasional vacation renter brings in a higher tax rate (transient accommodations tax on top of the general excise tax).

Lisa Adlong

Hauula

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Obama years tainted by reckless debt

It utterly astounds me that Michael Mills appears to have little to no grasp of economics (“U.S. shouldn’t be run like a business,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 5).

Does he not realize that in order to function, the government has borrowed heavily with no plans for repaying the debt?

His hero, President Barack Obama, oversaw the borrowing of nearly $10 trillion in eight years. Our state government has promised future benefits to workers that can never be paid. Social Security and Medicare in the future will not be available because of this reckless behavior.

These are bills our children and grandchildren are responsible for.

He quotes data, but doesn’t mention that the number of people in poverty and on food stamps increased during Obama’s tenure, along with 93 million people out of the work force. The average family’s income has not increased in eight years.

No business, family or government has ever survived handling its money this way.

Melanie Johnson

Kaneohe

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More false claims from the president

It is clear that President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, that there weren’t thousands of people celebrating in New Jersey on 9/11, that there weren’t 3 to 5 million people who voted illegally in our last election, that murder rates in the U.S. are nowhere near being the highest in 50 years, that the father of Ted Cruz did not conspire with Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, that President Donald Trump’s electoral victory was not the largest since Ronald Reagan’s, and so on.

Now, without any evidence, Trump claims that Obama wiretapped his phones without appearing to even know that, since Watergate, a president cannot order the wiretapping of any American’s phone.

Trump has become a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to diminishing our country’s system of government and the credibility of its leader.

Robert Griffon

Moiliili

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Public needs truth about rail costs

With a rail project starting off with budget costs of $4.6 billion and most likely heading past $10 billion, I think a rare and candid quote from former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown about large civil construction projects should be remembered by every Hawaii taxpayer:

“In the world of civic projects, the first budget is really a down payment. If people knew real costs from the start, nothing would ever get approved. The idea is to get going. Start digging a hole and make it so big, there’s no alternative to coming up with money to fill it in.”

Members of the Legislature, City Council and voters deserve the respect to be told the truth about cost projections, ridership projections, and promises of new employment. We don’t need alternative facts to get these mega- projects approved or extend the general excise tax surcharge into our children’s future.

Tim Apicella

Hawaii Kai