HONOLULU — An ambitious measure to restructure Hawaii’s income tax brackets, increase tax credits for working families and establish credits for out-of-pocket teacher expenses breezed through a joint hearing of the state House committees on education and economic development on Tuesday.
What You Need To Know
The so-called Green Affordability Plan is designed to save working families thousands of dollars per year by restructuring income tax brackets and lowering income tax for all brackets; increasing the standard deduction for individual filers to $5,000 from $2,200; increasing the personal exemption to $2,288 from $1,144; and increasing tax credits for renters
The proposed tax credit for teachers would be equal to 80% of qualifying expenses — including the purchase of classroom books, supplies, computer equipment and supplementary materials — up to $500 per year
In recommending the measure for passage on second reading, Woodson proposed extending the teacher tax credit to preschool teachers
Tax director Gary Suganuma testified that his department supports the targeted approach to providing tax relief to Hawaii residents
House Bill 1049, Gov. Josh Green’s so-called Green Affordability Plan, is designed to save working families thousands of dollars per year by restructuring income tax brackets and lowering income tax for all brackets; increasing the standard deduction for individual filers to $5,000 from $2,200; increasing the personal exemption to $2,288 from $1,144; and increasing tax credits for renters.
