Taxes should be based on purchase price
There is an easy and fair way to assist both kamaaina and island-born alike with property taxation. Everyone should pay a tax based on the purchase price of their house. That way, taxes will be in line with each homeowner’s ability to pay.
For example, as a single, public school teacher, I could never afford a $500,000 home; mine cost $200,000 (in 2000). However, I am being taxed as if I had invested a half-million dollars! When I am 80, my home could very well be worth $800,000. With an exemption of $120,000, I would be taxed on a $680,000 house, well beyond my means.
If I were to sell my home, the buyer should pay the appropriate taxes based on his ability to afford a half-million dollar home — that is fair. This way, the assessments could rise tremendously each year and not penalize those of us who have embraced and made a lifetime or long-term commitment to the community.
Aloha should be more than a slogan to attract tourists, it must be shown to the struggling middle class residents who are the heart and soul of a functioning society and who provide essential support and services to the tourism industry as well.
Ann Fraser
Kona
Local tax break seems mean-spirited
I am 78 years old and moved to the Big Island from Houston a few months ago. I had the intention of becoming a permanent resident, not of shuffling back and forth between here and the mainland, and not of renting or investing.
I simply wanted to live the latter part of my life in an area whose people, climate, and visual beauty greatly appealed to me. It was, therefore, with some dismay that I read in Saturday’s paper that the county’s deputy finance director is considering “some sort of long-term residency requirement” for certain property-tax exemptions for older seniors.
Does the county think that every older person who moves here intends to take advantage of it in some way? This discriminatory idea of a “long-term residency requirement” seems very mean-spirited to me.
Mike Keller
Kailua-Kona
Ocean Villas at Kahaluu Bay doesn’t fit
There are many reasons why the development of 306 timeshares at Kahaluu Bay is a bad idea. I will present three of them.
First, when the project was initially planned there was an access road that was to be built mauka so that the entrance and exit to the timeshares would not be onto Alii Drive. Now that the access road has been canceled there is no way to handle the 300-plus cars dumping onto Alii Drive in a very congested area. This will affect pedestrians, bikers, beachgoers and current residents. This alone should be enough to cancel the timeshare development.
Second, the impact on Kahaluu Bay has not been thoroughly addressed. The addition of 900-plus people (306 units times an average of three persons) a day with immediate access to the bay will kill off the very feature it is being built to take advantage of. Kahaluu is the most visited beach in Kona and has already experienced a sewage spill this year. The ecosystem of Kahaluu needs to be protected, not exploited.
Third, the cultural and historic significance of the area, which contains multiple burial grounds and heiau, makes building there problematic. I am not an expert in this field, but I do respect the Hawaiians who lived here before us, and those who live here now. We should be looking to preserve Kona’s heritage, not destroy it. Once it is built over it cannot be restored.
Karen Gold
Kailua-Kona