Absent Tax Dollars, Lawmakers Weigh New State Tax Check-offs
In a year when there is not a lot of money for lawmakers to throw at their favorite cause or community project, the focus has turned to having lawmakers look like they are concerned about this or that cause without spending a single tax dollar.
How, you might say, can lawmakers look like they are concerned when there is no money to spend? And if you haven’t noticed or heard someone bemoan the loss of programs and services in the last three years, you are certainly not paying attention. So how can lawmakers look concerned without spending a dime? Why they are asking you, the taxpayer, to cough up a voluntary dollar or two by sending a part of your state tax refund into a special fund designated for that cause.
The mechanism can already be found on your state income tax return after you have figured out what you owe and what you already had withheld from your paycheck. It’s called a state tax check-off. The ones already on your return allow you to designate a portion of your state tax refund for the Hawaii Schools Repairs and Maintenance Fund, the Hawaii Public Libraries Fund, or the Domestic Violence/Child Abuse and Neglect Funds. In addition to those programs, there is also a check-off where you can designate monies for the Hawaii Campaign Election Fund. This latter check-off is similar to the one found on your federal return where you can designate $3 of your federal refund for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, both of which have been around for decades.
