Hawaii Budget Gap Requires Income Tax Cut Pause, Governor Says

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) proposed a three-year pause of the state’s planned personal income tax cuts beginning next year to help fill a state budget gap anticipated by cuts in federal funding.

Green, in a speech Monday to the state legislature, said a “strategic pause” on future tax cuts would restore $1.8 billion for essential services. About $600 million of that revenue would go to food security and child care needs, he said.

• “What this amounts to is the fairest, most responsible and most compassionate approach to dealing with the challenges that the feds have created,” Green said. ...