hunterbishop.com

I nearly choked on my New Year's ahi when I read state Rep. Kirk Caldwell's excuse for the Legislature failing to extend the 11-cent gas tax exemption that ended when you were out celebrating with fireworks last night. "It fell through the cracks," he said. "It fell through the cracks."

Gas caps and pump prices have been near the top of the state's agenda for two or three years but Caldwell says an automatic 11-cent increase in the nation's highest price wasn't enough get noticed.  Maybe they'll repeal it this year, he suggested.

If it makes you feel any better, Hawaii will now have the distinction of not only having the highest gasoline prices in the nation, but the highest gasoline taxes as well, finally outstripping New York's take from motorists.  And the industry spokesperson predictably said pricing is all such a whirl of confusion that I thought she'd get the vapors just talking to the reporter about it. So don't worry, the industry folks are tending to it.Ttrust them. They know what we're doing.

According to the article, everybody -- Republicans and Democrats all -- wanted to extend this exemption last year but, you know, those darn cracks.

So here's my suggestion:  I propose that the state tax rebate we're supposed to get this year start with the entire amount of money  expected to be gained by the state from the 11-cent tax between now and the time the legislature actually does repeal it. Wouldn't that be the only fair thing to do for taxpayers if the only reason it wasn't already done is that it fell through the cracks?

By the way, how much do you think the rebate should be? You may recall that Gov. Lingle called for a $150 rebate per taxpayer last January. We didn't get a tax rebate last year, but this year a rebate is mandated by law.

(Caution: The Honolulu Advertiser story linked to above has a glaring error near the bottom that was pointed out by Doug White at Poinography but apparently was not fixed in the online story. Economist Leroy Laney reportedly said Hawaii has both a sales tax and general excise tax. Maybe it was supposed to say income tax and general excise tax, because Hawaii has no sales tax. ( I don't know if there was a print correction.)