Pricey Paradise Rough Draft

        Palm trees swaying, waves are crashing, and people are smiling, this is what paradise seems like. People from all over the world travel to Hawaii for relaxation and joy. But just like other places, everything comes with a price. However Hawaii’s prices are just a bit higher. One of the main reasons why Hawaii’s prices are greater than others in the U.S is the fact that Hawaii is an island. Hawaii requires mostly everything to be shipped here, from food to school supplies, it all gets here via airplane or boat. Oahu requires an excess amount of money to ship goods and buy land, which leads to the tremendous rise of Hawaii’s tax.

        The 5.2 billion dollar rail project that is getting built on Oahu has been a very popular issue since the rail CEO announced that the project has gone over budget by 910 million dollars. “A temporary excise tax surcharge — which, when applied to the 4 percent excise tax, actually computes to 4.712 percent — helps pay for most of the $5.2 billion project.” (par. 3) Since 2005, lawmakers promised that the rail surcharge would last only till 2007. But now the date has been pushed to the end of 2022. According to Tom Yamachika, the president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, it would cost every taxpayer $200 a year and that includes man, woman, and child. But thanks to the “Federal Transit Administration (FTA), they agreed to help cover some of the cost of the project by paying out $1.55 billion, while the rest of cost will be covered by the resident of Hawai’i, who will be paying a higher excise tax every year until the project is completed in 2019.” (par. 1) The rail project is a financial burden to the hawaii residents. Specifically, the middle and lower class because Hawaii is already an overpriced place to live in.

        Shipping products into Hawaii and small inventory of land are reasons why the tax is high in Hawaii. “Everyday things, such as groceries, cost an average of 30 percent more in Hawaii than on the Mainland, due to high shipping costs since most of the food is available in the islands is brought here on ships and airplanes.” (par. 2) But shipment is only a minor factor of the tax money. It adds no more than five percent to the the retail price of food and tax. A much bigger factor is the need for grocers to maintain larger inventories in order to keep things on the shelves at all times. “Retailers pay a lot more for the use of land and buildings than on the Mainland.” (par. 3) In result of Hawaii being an island it has a small amount of land. That’s why land is very expensive here. Some of the land are scared and burial grounds. Hawaii’s has expensive houses and buildings because the construction workers need supplies that are not found here in Hawaii. Thus the construction workers would have to order the required materials to make the house. So they would also have to pay for the shipping of the products.

         Tax is a burden to a lot of people. But those people only focus on the bad thing about tax. But they are not paying for nothing. They are paying for the freeways, sidewalks, statues, buildings, and etc. “Taxes put out our fires, keep our streets safe, provide our children with education, provide our families with health care, ensure our food and water are safe, create legal safeguards for businesses and employees, provide parks – in other words, provide us benefits every hour of the day, every day of the year.” (par. 1) This proves that the people that are paying tax aren’t paying for nothing. They are helping Hawaii become the paradise that people think we are. If we don’t pay for tax, then Hawaii wouldn’t be so peaceful and pretty and our economy would be ruined without tax. “Taxes are our dues — we pay our dues to be Americans and enjoy the benefits of American society. Taxes are what we pay to live in a civilized society… This incredible infrastructure has been paid for by previous taxpayers." (par. 3) Our past generations payed for what we have today. And now we will have to pay for our future generations. Tax helps keep our country balanced and controlled.

        The 5.2 billion dollar rail project might be expensive, but it is not for nothing. We can use it to improve our traffic problem and it could also prevent less car accidents. The goods that come from different places to Hawaii makes us unique and different. Not only do we get things shipped in Hawaii but we also export things to different places. It is a give and take situation. Living in paradise could be expensive but it is sort of worth it.