Lawmakers turn to taxes to ease shortfall

According to Richard Borreca of the Star-Bulletin, "With Hawaii's financial picture growing more worrisome, state legislators spent yesterday giving tentative approval to a series of tax increases that would raise money from hotel guests, shoppers, smokers, motorists, Internet shoppers and local residents.

The rush to unleash the tax hikes is prompted by the state's growing shortfall, already estimated at $1.8 billion. Also yesterday the state Tax Department said tax collections for the first nine months of the fiscal year have dropped 6.3 percent. The state Council on Revenues had estimated the tax collection drop at only 5 percent."

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