Additional State Tax Revenue Forecast

The state of Hawaii’s Council on Revenues has announced that forecast an increase of state tax revenue by 5.1 percent during the 2013 fiscal year, which will end in June 2013. This was an increase from the 4.9 percent predicted by the council in September 2012 and would mean an additional revenue of $10.3 million that the state could spend. Furthermore, the Council on Revenues predicts that revenue growth would grow by 6.8 percent for the 2014 fiscal year, an increase from the 3.9 percent that they had predicted previously. Governor Neil Abercrombie commented, “I am pleased the Council on Revenues is taking a long-term view of our economic future, which coincides with our financial plan, working responsibly toward a stable fiscal growth. The budget proposal that we submitted to the Legislature is mindful of the revisions of the council. The rate of revenue growth that they continue to forecast in the current year makes sense and is still very strong.”

However, economists remain very cautious, and worry how changes in federal spending and plans to reduce federal debt would affect Hawaii in the years to come. Furthermore, Hawaii’s strongest political champion, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye has passed away in December of 2012, and experts predict that would severely hurt Hawaii in the coming years. State budget director, Kalbert Young, commented, “My opinion is that there is no way to quantify or measure, because the value that Sen. Ino­uye contributed in terms of what he was able to accomplish for Hawaii, not only in funding, but politically in Congress, leadership, all of those components. There is no way to measure how big that impact is. And how much can the current congressional team overcome those issues? There’s just no way to measure that.”

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 1-4-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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