A taxing problem for Hawaii

Taxes going down, taxes going up: It’s been a roller-coaster week in the cost-of-living department.

In Congress, the GOP’s massive tax cut measure is expected to lower the federal tax burden for most Hawaii residents in 2019. How much and for how long depends on your circumstances, but for most regular folks, the savings should be pretty modest.

Heading in the opposite direction, meanwhile, are property taxes. Property valuations on Oahu rose all over the place. For private homeowners, valuations have generally increased 6.1 percent for the 2018-19 tax year (results may vary depending on your neighborhood). Hotel/resort, commercial and industrial properties have gone up even more. So while the tax rate may not change, there’s a good chance the amount paid by you — or your landlord — will go up.

If you’re starting to hyperventilate, don’t look at your electricity bill. It’s going up, too. Hawaiian Electric Co. received interim approval to increase its base rate by 2.5 percent, raising electrical bills for 304,261 Oahu customers. It could have been worse: HECO initially wanted 6.9 percent, but was prepared to settle for 3.5 percent. Don’t expect the utility to give up trying.

“We’re extremely disappointed with this outcome,” said HECO president Alan Oshima, pointing out that the rate hasn’t gone up in six years and the company has renewable energy investments it needs to make.

So, like on any roller-coaster ride, we’ll most likely end up where we started: with our usual high cost of living, creeping ever higher.

Anti-Trumpers run for Congress

President Donald Trump has a way with firing — though we’re not talking here about his “you’re fired!” mien.

No, we’re talking about firing up people to oppose him and his presidency — and Hawaii’s top candidates for the 1st Congressional District are citing Trump as their motivation to run.

Doug Chin, Hawaii’s attorney general and a Democrat, said the past year of legal battles against White House policies spurred him to run. Hawaii has led or joined lawsuits to block Trump directives on immigration and health care.

There’s state Rep. Beth Fukumoto, who’s exploring a run for Congress after turning Democrat and getting some national press for fending off backlash from then-fellow Republicans for her criticism of candidate Trump. After Trump’s election, she participated in the Honolulu Women’s March.

Then there’s state Rep. Kaniela Ing, a Democrat, whose campaign website declares: “Fighting Trump is important, but ‘no’ is not enough. We need progress beyond resistance.” Ing champions universal basic income, tuition-free college, equal rights, Medicare-for-all. As un-Donald as it can get.

State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim’s Democratic POV comes through in vowing to “work tirelessly to preserve and expand Medicare, and fight to ensure continued and expanded Social Security for our senior citizens.”

Already a lively slate. Let’s see who else runs, especially from the Republican Party.

Self-censorship at the CDC?

Words matter. They are basic building blocks of a democratic society, and journalists, more than most, know both the power and the fragility of freedom of speech.

That’s why a recent Washington Post article made such a splash — and raised such immediate outrage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the premise went, had banned seven words when crafting documents for budgetary requests: “diversity,” “entitlement,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” “science-based,” “transgender” and “vulnerable.”

Countered CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald: “There are no banned, prohibited or forbidden words at the CDC — period.”

Still, these are strange times, fueled by polarization on the Hill and science skeptics in the highest seats of power. Concern, understandably, swirled about top-down thought-policing more in line with totalitarian regimes than with American ideals.

Hawaii’s Brian Schatz was among a handful of U.S. senators who demanded clarification from the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Management and Budget.

Subsequent information now indicates that the “banned words” might have bubbled up from the agency’s own rank-and-file — bureaucrats and scientists trying to shield their projects from political deficit hawks by avoiding the trigger words.

Government observers note that self-imposed word curbs are not uncommon with new administrations, so as not to draw attention that could lead to cuts. But it’s a sad state of affairs that today’s hyperadversarial times have created such a fertile marketplace for suspicion and fear.