Tax giveaway for ultra-rich currently sailing through

You don’t have to look too far around Maui to see people with extreme wealth. You also don’t have to look far to see that middle-class families are struggling, so much that they’re having to move away.

We also know that the recovery of our island’s local businesses and families will require major financial resources for years to come.

So, it may be shocking to learn that a tax giveaway for the ultra-rich is currently sailing through the state legislature.

Most Maui residents don’t want this. They don’t want more people hanging on to their vast sums of money for generations at the expense of affordable housing, safe roads, good schools and other vital services for the rest of us.

House Bill 2653 is an effort by wealthy and well-connected individuals to stack the deck even more in their favor by weakening the estate tax. This bill would more than double the amount that very rich people can pass to their heirs tax-free, from the current $5.5 million for a single person and $11 million for a couple, up to over $13 million for singles and $27 million for couples. It would also allow them to pass down family-owned businesses of any size tax-free.

As a former state legislator representing Kihei, Wailea and Makena, I can tell you that when millionaires and billionaires don’t pay their fair share of taxes, lawmakers are faced with bad choices to balance the state budget. One bad choice: Middle and lower-income families are forced to pay more taxes because the wealthy don’t want to pay what they owe.

Ask your senator and representative to oppose HB2653.

Tina Wildberger Kihei