Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has announced a comprehensive package of personal income tax, general excise tax, and motor vehicle tax and registration fee relief proposals that would provide $346 in tax relief over two years. The personal income tax proposals include automatic adjustments to certain tax amounts to account for inflation, raising the standard deduction, providing additional tax exemptions and credits to families with children or aging parents, and providing a one-time tax refund to resident taxpayers because of the large general fund surplus over the past two years. The general excise tax proposals include eliminating the tax on certain essential foods, reinstating the tax exemption for gasoline blended with ethanol, and extending the exemption for ethanol-blended fuels to all biofuels. The motor vehicle tax and registration fee proposals include exempting non-commercial vehicles owned by National Guard and Reserve members from state and county tax and registration fees.