Paradise Taxed

October 16, 1995

“It’s like heaven,” said Warren Robinson, reflecting on the 100,000 acres his family owned on two small Hawaiian islands, Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau. That fiefdom was worth a halfbillion dollars. But the outside world was “impinging on the Robinson retreat in the threatening form of the tax collector.” Unlike some billionaires today who make a lot of noise about tax obligations they can easily fulfill (looking at you, Elon!), the Robinsons really were struggling to pay up. Cash flow was tight and sugar prices were stagnant, hurting the Robinsons’ sugar plantation. Even though they lived frugally and practiced careful stewardship over the land that their ancestors bought from King Kamehameha in the late 19th century, satisfying Uncle Sam might mean selling land or finally allowing commercial development. “We go out to dinner three times a year,” said Bruce Robinson, a cousin of Warren’s.

“We can’t afford it. We get our meat from the mountains.”

SOURCES: HORACE, BY PIERRE CORNEILLE; ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE; THE SANDMAN: BOOK OF DREAMS, BY NEIL GAIMAN; A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES, BY WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS; POWERFUL: BUILDING A CULTURE OF FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY, BY PATTY MCCORD.