Privatized tax collector deferred
Source: Loren Moreno, Honolulu Advertiser (HI), Friday, January 13, 2006
It could cost the state at least $3.6 million to set up a new system to allow a private company to collect the general excise tax on behalf of the city and the state, said Kurt Kawafuchi, director for the state Department of Taxation. And while Kawafuchi supports the idea, he may be one of the few. For many others, a proposed agreement between the city and the state to privatize the collection of the general excise tax is the latest example of "bad public policy." Under the proposal unveiled Wednesday during a City Council Budget Committee hearing, a private company would collect the 4 percent general excise tax and the city's 0.5 percent surcharge. ….. But Randy Perreira, deputy executive director of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, said the plan would have no effect on the existing government workforce. Instead, he said the proposal is "stupid."