A ‘wealth asset tax’ on Hawaiʻi’s richest residents advances in the legislature

This year’s version is Senate Bill 925, which would levy “a tax on the activity of sustaining excessive accumulations of wealth by every qualified taxpayer.” It would impose a tax of 1 percent of net worth per year on taxpayers with assets of more than $20 million in assets in Hawaiʻi.

The net worth of each taxpayer would be determined by rules to be developed by the state Tax Department based on the taxpayers’ properties, stock holdings, partnerships and other assets.

Will Caron, who testified as an individual, argued that lawmakers should approve the bill because “it’s time for the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share of taxes.”

“When the super rich take unfair advantage of the many loopholes in the tax code, the rest of us are forced to pick up the tab,” Caron said in written testimony. “At the same time our public infrastructure, our schools, our natural resources and our housing ecosystem have all been chronically under-funded for years.”