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With so many new work-from-home options, I’ve heard many people are going to Florida & Texas ( both have no income tax) and escaping high cost of living cities. I think it would be nice if Hawaii could get a piece of those jobs. But I’m skeptical about how much of an impact it could make. But it’s certainly worth exploring.
I don’t think a free flight in exchange for community service work is going to be an incentive. If a person needs a free ticket, then they’re likely not the type of person you’re trying to attract.
I saw this and part of me applauds the effort, but another part of me asks why is the state doing this with so many out of work residents?
At worst, I see this as a recipe for increasing homelessness.
We are in a population decline (prior to covid)... which is extremely rare for any state and comes with a slew of negative consequences in the short and long term. This is more of a "beggars can't be choosers" situation. This is a way to maintain our population and reverse the out-migration. It also helps to reduce the "brain drain" phenomena that has been occurring here for most of my life. Tech workers have higher education levels than the average worker here. So anything to decrease the brain drain phenomena will help our state in the long run. A good number of my classmates that did well in my public school ended up leaving to the mainland. I have immediate family that have done the same. Hawaii really needs to bring back the intelligent, educated people that have left our state for higher paying jobs and lucrative careers. These are not the rich and wealthy... these are the middle and upper middle class types that we desperately need here.
Of course there are going to be negative consequences. For some, even many, crashing home prices and a non-existent tourism industry is a dream. You will always have haters with any new idea. Overall though, I can see this benefiting our state. If we aren't creative about new approaches, we will end up with only poor and rich people living here.
The theory, albeit I think misplaced - is to attract remote workers with the higher mainland salaries to Hawaii to stimulate the economy and diversify the economy.
Given airfare from the West Coast is running $300 round trip, it isn't exactly much of a financial incentive.
The biggest issue and why it makes it gimicky, a lot of companies - including the one I work at, a 100,000+ employee tech company, do not allow remote workers in Hawaii - so I keep my California address and hence, state taxes are CA taxes. While I do partial year resident taxes and Hawaii gets it share, I doubt many of these remote worker will change their address to Hawaii, especially from State tax free states like Washington. And if they do change their address to Hawaii - more likely than not, the location pay they currently receive goes away.
I agree it's gimmicky but the idea is to let people know that Hawaii is a great option if you want to remote work. If it takes a gimmick to get us free advertising, gimmicks it is. Ultimately, it's the best idea I've seen anyone come up with to date (next to my Mayo Clinic Hawaii idea LOL). Of course, I'd love to hear more come up with ideas to spur our economy here. I hear a lot of whining but zero solutions.
As for companies not allowing remote work in Hawaii, is it just Hawaii or is it any state? Also, residency need not be made permanent. They can still maintain residency wherever they are... rent their home for 6 months or a year and give Hawaii a shot. Likely they will end up going back to where they came from but some may stay permanently.
With so many new work-from-home options, I’ve heard many people are going to Florida & Texas ( both have no income tax) and escaping high cost of living cities. I think it would be nice if Hawaii could get a piece of those jobs. But I’m skeptical about how much of an impact it could make. But it’s certainly worth exploring.
I don’t think a free flight in exchange for community service work is going to be an incentive. If a person needs a free ticket, then they’re likely not the type of person you’re trying to attract.
I don't think it will make a big impact but I also don't think it will hurt. People of all income demographics find Hawaii very appealing. With rents coming down in many areas, Hawaii is getting a little bit more affordable and therefore more attractive to not just the rich, but the working class.
I agree it's gimmicky but the idea is to let people know that Hawaii is a great option if you want to remote work. If it takes a gimmick to get us free advertising, gimmicks it is. Ultimately, it's the best idea I've seen anyone come up with to date (next to my Mayo Clinic Hawaii idea LOL). Of course, I'd love to hear more come up with ideas to spur our economy here. I hear a lot of whining but zero solutions.
I don’t think it hurts, but I also think the economy, employment, rents, etc will start picking back up as we start moving out of the pandemic. But yes, it doesn’t hurt.
In my mind, the flights are an ok offer. I think it was Bahamas or Aruba that at one point tried the same thing.
But in my mind, the target market is likely younger employees new to Work From Home who are living in apartments with no families. Could be wrong but this seems like the most mobile group. And I might try focusing on things like high speed internet availability and move-in ready apartments or condos so they can just fly over, hook in their laptop and get going. In the end, it’s the weather and lifestyle that will be the draw I think.
I think people with families or older employees will be looking more permanent moves to places like FL and TX with no state income tax, low cost of living and good weather.
As for companies not allowing remote work in Hawaii, is it just Hawaii or is it any state? Also, residency need not be made permanent. They can still maintain residency wherever they are... rent their home for 6 months or a year and give Hawaii a shot. Likely they will end up going back to where they came from but some may stay permanently.
Well - practically everyone is working remotely right now - in tech, the only people going to an office would be people who maintain IT infrastructure. There are a handful of us at my company in Hawaii working remotely - albeit, with mainland addresses. My boss certainly knows where I am, my address is prominently displayed on my cell phone/internet expense report.
Prior to Covid, I typically worked 3 weeks remotely - and was expected in my Bay Office roughly a week a month at my expense back and forth to Hawaii. I have a remote team scattered all across the mainland.
So to clarify - I can work remotely wherever I want as long as I maintain mainland office hours - I just can't have a Hawaii address.
The reasoning, not unique to my company, is they don't want to set up benefit plans specific to Hawaii residents - and the biggest reason is they don't want to deal with staying on top of Hawaii employment law - and if I have a Hawaii address, they must reimburse my flights from Hawaii to the mainland (I pay those out of pocket - they pick up the tab for business travel onward from home base in San Francisco) - if they want to fire me, and I fight it - they don't want to find law firms in Hawaii, etc to deal with it. A secondary reason, they don't want to deal with the near free healthcare - they deal with it in Massachusetts, but you have no option but to maintain a presence there.
TVR: Transient vacation rentals. This is a good point. With a sluggish economy, it won't make any difference because these rentals will be priced at a higher rate. And more taxes need to get paid first. So if you own a home, the chance of cashing in on the rentals ain't going to be that much in profits. If you wanted this as your sole income. So watching for local economic indicators always will be your strongest points in making this business venture work out.
The state Department of Taxation already has collected $4.1 million this year from vacation rental owners who owed back taxes, and through continued stepped- up enforcement expects to easily hit $12 million by year’s end.
The state has deployed 13 tax investigators to go after vacation rental tax violations, and they’re on a roll.
Issac Choy, director of the state Department of Taxation, said this year’s figures are on top of the $6.2 million that the department collected in 2020 from vacation rental owners or operators that owed transient accommodations taxes, general excise taxes, penalties and interest.
On just one platform alone, the state found 5,100 out of 7,300 hosts had not been paying GET or TAT taxes, he said.
The state Department of Taxation already has collected $4.1 million this year from vacation rental owners who owed back taxes, and through continued stepped- up enforcement expects to easily hit $12 million by year’s end.
The state has deployed 13 tax investigators to go after vacation rental tax violations, and they’re on a roll.
Issac Choy, director of the state Department of Taxation, said this year’s figures are on top of the $6.2 million that the department collected in 2020 from vacation rental owners or operators that owed transient accommodations taxes, general excise taxes, penalties and interest.
On just one platform alone, the state found 5,100 out of 7,300 hosts had not been paying GET or TAT taxes, he said.
If I correctly recall, I stated as much in past posts on this forum. It was just a matter of time before the state's DOT started focusing on non-payment of vacation rental taxes. It's been an unrealized cash cow.
Off topic, but worth stating, the next shoe to drop will be increases in property and other taxes to pay for rail.
Off topic, but worth stating, the next shoe to drop will be increases in property and other taxes to pay for rail.
I don't think the current administration has much of an appetite for rail - they are going to rely on Biden to continue to print money.
Rick won't get reelected with a tax increase - so don't see that happening the next 4 years - and he may have his eyes on the State Gov.....
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