Ka‘ū News Briefs Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Old Office of Economic Opportunity Building, in front of the mango trees and old plantation camp housing,  is on the 60 acres where the foreclosure auction scheduled for Wednesday has been cancelled. Photo by Julia Neal

THE OLD KA‘Ū SUGAR MILL SITE foreclosure auction on Wednesday has been cancelled. Attorney Louis P. Mendona, commissioner for the court, wrote that the "auction has been cancelled since the defendants paid the amount due to the Plaintiff and the foreclosure case will be dismissed."

      The defendants planned to put a water bottling plant and retail center on the 60 acres with parking for tourist vehicles. They received a preliminary approval from the former county planning director. The owner of the mortgage on the property foreclosed on them but the matter has apparently been resolved.

Ka‘ū sugar mill site where owners have planned a water bottling plant sourcing the water from a tunnel there. Photo by Julia Neal

       The site is also on the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission top ten list for acquisition. The land includes the Old Pāhala Bank Building, Old Office of Economic Opportunity Building, Old Mill Warehouse, Old Mill Carpentry Building, the remains of the sugar mill stacks, walls, waterways and other plantation remnants, and stoops of a plantation village, now populated with mango trees. It also includes the old mill water tunnel and open views of the coast and mountains.

      Surfriders Foundation, the Sierra Club, Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund and others opposed the idea of taking water from Ka‘ū to bottle and export it. Whether owners plan to proceed with the bottling plant remains unclear.
      The site is next to the proposed Pāhala wastewater treatment plant.

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MAJOR TAX GIVEAWAYS to corporations and the top one percent "on the backs of lower-income and middle-class Americans" is how Rep. Tulsi Gabbard described the tax bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. She said that it would add $1.4 trillion to the nation's debt.
        After resolving the differences between the House and Senate versions of the tax reform legislation in a conference committee, H.R. 1 was passed by the House by a vote of 227-203 Tuesday, but will require a re-vote Wednesday due to technical change requirements recently discovered by the Senate. The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 51 to 48 after midnight in Washington, D.C.

       Gabbard, who voted "No," said, “There's no doubt the American people need and want real tax reform. But rather than passing a strong, inclusive, and bipartisan bill focused on helping hardworking middle-class families, today Republicans passed a bill filled with massive corporate giveaways and loopholes for the ultra-wealthy. For example, the top one percent in our country will receive over 82 percent of the entire tax benefit in the bill they passed today.
       “As long as Congress continues to pass legislation for partisan, political reasons that serve special corporate interests instead of the families that are struggling just to get by every day, where lobbyists have more input in the writing of this legislation than many Members of Congress, the American people lose. I oppose this legislation today. It's a disappointment and a huge lost opportunity to actually help so many struggling families all across the country.” See the Video of Gabbard’s Speech on the House floor on Tuesday.

     · Dismantling the State and Local Tax Deduction, which will effectively raise taxes on those who will no longer benefit from the deduction. Under current law, the SALT deduction is unlimited, but this legislation limits the deductions of both individuals and couples up to only $10,000, while allowing corporations and pass-through entities to continue claiming the unlimited deduction.
     · Making billions of dollars in environmentally harmful fossil fuel subsidies permanent while putting incentives for clean energy in jeopardy.
     · Permanently lowering corporate taxes rates to 21 percent-- the largest one-time corporate tax cut in U.S. history--while making tax cuts for some middle class families temporary. By 2026, over 86 million low and middle class families will pay higher taxes than they do today.
     · Cutting taxes for America’s top wage earners by nearly three percent and raising the threshold at which that tax rate kicks in to $500,000 for individuals and $600,000 for married couples.
     · Laying the foundation for a $136 billion cut to mandatory programs in FY2018 alone—including a mandatory $25 billion cut to Medicare—to cover the offset of the $1.46 trillion dollar increase to our national deficit. In Hawai‘i, 245,000 people receive healthcare through Medicare.
    · Reducing the limit on the mortgage interest deduction, further exacerbating the affordable housing crisis in Hawai‘i.
    Gabbard said that she has fought to protect the hard-earned paychecks of low and middle income Americans and against corporate tax breaks throughout her time in Congress. She said she voted against the "Republicans’ corporate giveaway tax bill" in the House and called on the conference committee "to serve and protect hardworking American families."

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Hear Brian Schatz comment on tax bill.

"THE TAX CODE IS AN EXPRESSION OF WHAT AMERICA CARES ABOUT and what America Values," Sen. Brian Schatz said on Tuesday. "In this bill we are telling people that we value work less than we value already being rich. There's nothing with somebody who has been successful but to the extent that passive income now is taxed at a  lower rate than people who actually earn their money the old fashioned way by working it, that's a reflection of values and I think that's why people are so concerned about us entering into a new gilded age."

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"#GOPTAXSCAM-DONALD TR4UMP'S BIG, FAT LIE" is what Sen. Mazie Hirono called the tax bill that is making its way through Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. She recommended remembering when Pres. Trump said, "This tax bill is not going to help me and my rich friends are kind of upset with me." She called it the biggest lie from a President who has a hard time telling the truth. She pointed to Forbes magazine estimating that the tax bill could save Donald Trump $11 million a year.

Sen. Maize Hirono points to a Forbes magazine article on Monday that estimated that Pres. Donald Trump will save $11 million a year through the the tax bill making its way through Congress. See her talk about it.

     "The rest of us, the people who actually have to work for a living, get hardly anything."
      She said that what little the middle class will get is "written in invisible ink," and will expire,  while "85 percent of the goodies, those cuts to the richest 1 percent and the biggest corporations - those cuts will go on forever, written in indelible ink."
      She predicted that the addition of over a trillion dollars in debt will lead to mandatory cuts to Medicare to the tune of $25 million. Some 13 million people will no longer have health care and that premiums for others will see premiums rise by at least 10 percent, said Hirono. She predicted that the jobs that will be created will be for lawyers and accountants who will figure out the loopholes for the wealthy and the corporations too keep their tax payments lower than the the amount the new tax bill requires. She called the bill "a fraud on the American people."

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A BELL CHOIR, MUSIC AND SINGING WITH GUITARS are a highlight of the Christmas Eve celebration on Sunday, Dec. 24, at Nā‘ālehu Methodist Church on Hwy. 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m.

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KĪLAUEA MILITARY CAMP'S CRATER RIM CAFÉ ANNOUNCES A CHRISTMAS DAY BUFFET for Monday, Dec. 25, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The café is located inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. The menu includes Prime Rib, Roast Turkey, Holiday Lamb Stew and much more. Entry fees are $27.95 per adult, and $14.50 per child (age 6-11). Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. For more, call 967-8356.

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