Here’s how Hawaiʻi’s new state budget is shaping up

Meanwhile, Dela Cruz is advancing a package of tax increases he says could be used to raise extra cash to replenish the state’s emergency and budget reserve fund, also known as the “rainy day” fund. Ige mostly drained that fund to help cover the cost of state government during the pandemic.

Several of those tax proposals are included in House Bill 58, which would expand the reach of Hawaiʻi’s estate tax and increase the state conveyance tax on sales of properties worth more than $4 million.

HB58 would also temporarily suspend an array of excise tax exemptions, which would raise an estimated $45 million to $50 million a year for the next two years by applying the excise tax on transactions that are now exempt.

The state tax department calculates the proposed expansion of the estate tax in HB58 would allow the state to collect about $25 million more per year, while the conveyance tax increase proposed in the same bill would raise more than $40 million a year for the next two years.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee has also given preliminary approval to a proposed increase in the individual and corporate capital gains tax, a step the tax department estimates would garner an extra $55 million to $60 million a year for the state.

The House has also advanced bills to boost the capital gains tax and expand the reach of the state inheritance tax, which suggests those measures have a reasonably good chance of passing.