Hawaii
Gov. Josh Green Gives Final Approval To Income Tax Break He Hopes Will Make Hawaii Affordable
Gov. Josh Green signed the largest income tax cut in state history into law on Monday, giving final approval to a measure that should deliver bigger paychecks for many of Hawaii’s working people as early as the beginning of next year.
Green told a gathering of lawmakers, media and others at the State Capitol that the tax cut is a crucial part of his administration’s plans to make Hawaii more affordable, and help staunch the flow of people who are leaving the islands.
The administration predicts the new law will reduce state income taxes for 70% of working-class families, and eliminate the state income tax entirely for about 40% of all state taxpayers by 2031.
“These were the changes that we had to have because we’ve seen an exodus of people who are living paycheck to paycheck,” Green said. “We’ve seen an exodus of those individuals going to the mainland, working families, because they just can’t afford rent.”
House Finance Committee Chairman Kyle Yamashita said House Bill 2404 — which is now Act 46 — will reduce the tax burden for a median-income Hawaii family by nearly $20,000 over the next seven years. It will also reduce state income tax collections by a total of $5.6 billion by 2031, according to Green.
State Tax Director Gary Suganuma said his department will modify the tax withholding tables used to calculate how much money is taken out of each paycheck for taxes, and employees should begin receiving more take-home pay in each paycheck in January.
The state Tax Department is offering a downloadable “take-home pay calculator” that residents can use to estimate the impact of the new tax law on their own paychecks.
HB 2404 would increase the standard deductions for taxpayers from the current $4,400 for joint filers to $8,800 for tax filers next year, and then increase that standard deduction in a series of steps until it reaches $24,000 in 2031.
It would grant similarly large expansions in the standard deductions for single filers, heads of households and married couples filing separately.
It would also eliminate state income taxes for the lowest-paid filers, and adjust the all state income tax brackets to account for inflation.
The governor also signed a more modest tax measure Monday that will eliminate the state excise tax on medical and dental services for people who receive benefits under Medicaid, Medicare or the TRICARE program for the military, retirees and their dependents.
That measure is Act 47, and will reduce state tax collections by $77.5 million in fiscal year 2027, which will be the first full fiscal year after the tax break takes effect. The Tax Department expects it will reduce tax collections by $81 million the following year.
Green predicted that tax break “will bring more providers to our people, it’s super important.”
The huge income tax cut in particular has some observers concerned that the state will resort to deep budget cuts later to balance the state budget, or will forgo important projects the state urgently needs to undertake.
Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy for the nonprofit Hawaii Children’s Action Network Speaks, said that given the large loss in revenues from the income tax cut, “we worry how lawmakers will fill that gap.”
The tax cut will reduce state collections by more than $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2032, according to the Tax Department, and the reduced collections will continue indefinitely into the future.
“We worry that needed services are going to face cuts, and needed improvements are not going to get funded in the future,” she said. “We look forward to talking with our lawmakers about how they are going to fill this budget hole without reducing social services, public education and all these other needed things in our community.”
The new law also provides large tax cuts to the wealthiest Hawaii residents “who really don’t need it,” Woo said.
But Green declared that “we won’t be cutting services,” in part because he predicts the tax cut will grow the state economy. A larger economy would translate into increases in other kinds of tax collections, such as the general excise tax.
“Individuals who are working paycheck to paycheck will spend every single dollar on local businesses, on their rent, on cars, on their health care needs. They will spend it here for their families, for school books for their children, they will all spend it right here at home,” he said.
Green also said he expects that reducing income taxes will mean residents will have more money and can rely less on Medicaid and other expensive social programs.
“As we support people’s quality of life and their ability to pay and survive on their own, a lot of those other programs will see cost savings, so we’re being smart about this,” he said.
However, Green also said his administration has begun a “deep dive into the costs that we have on the books that maybe shouldn’t be on the books.” Specifically, he said about 30% of state jobs are vacant, and unspent salaries often result in year-end surpluses of several hundred million dollars.
For positions that haven’t been filled for three or four years, Green said he wants to either raise the pay for essential state jobs to finally attract workers to fill them, or “make sure that we cut out some of the excess costs.”
“We expect to present a budget to the Legislature next year with fewer positions overall so that we get rid of some of what has been perceived as waste,” he said.
He also noted the administration has been pushing to “get more resources in many cases from travelers.”
Green campaigned on a plan to impose a new “green fee” on arriving tourists to help cope with climate change and the impacts from the millions of tourists who come here each year, but the idea has stalled at the Legislature in each of the last three sessions.
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
A Florida woman died Saturday in an apparent drowning at Honaunau Bay in South Kona.
According to police, at 11:47 a.m. Kona patrol officers were dispatched to Honaunau Boat Ramp following a report of a swimmer in distress.
Police learned that 65-year-old Mindy Morris of Panama City had been snorkeling in the bay with family members. As Morris returned to shore, she reportedly began experiencing difficulty breathing before losing consciousness.
Bystanders initiated life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived.
Morris was transported to Kona Community Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Police have initiated a coroner’s inquest investigation and ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. No foul play is suspected.
Police ask anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact Officer Cody Sheddy of Kona Patrol at (808) 935-3311 or via email at cody.sheddy@hawaiipolice.gov.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaiʻi Island police are investigating a traffic collision that claimed the life of a 59-year-old Waimea man on Sunday afternoon.
At 1:22 p.m., South Kohala patrol officers responded to the collision and determined that a black 2008 BMW sedan was traveling eastbound on Kawaihae Road when it veered onto the south shoulder and collided with a parked, unoccupied gold 2004 Toyota Camry sedan that was facing east on the shoulder.
Police identified the victim as 59-year-old Sione Tilini of Waimea.
At the time of the collision, three individuals were outside the Toyota Camry on the passenger side of the vehicle, changing a front passenger-side tire.
Tilini is believed to have been positioned between and partially underneath the passenger-side wheels of the Toyota when the collision occurred. The impact caused the Toyota to fall onto him.
Tilini was transported to Queen’s North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 2:47 p.m.
Two additional individuals, a 19-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy, sustained minor injuries after being struck when the parked vehicle was pushed forward during the collision.
Both were transported to Queen’s North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital for treatment and later released.
The driver and sole occupant of the BMW, a 22-year-old Waimea man, was transported to Queen’s North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital and remains in critical condition.
The BMW driver was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, negligent injury, driving without a license, no motor vehicle insurance, and operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.
The Hawaiʻi Police Department’s Area II Traffic Enforcement Unit has initiated a negligent homicide investigation.
Police ask anyone who witnessed the collision or has information relevant to the investigation to contact Officer Dayson Taniguchi at dayson.taniguchi@hawaiipolice.gov or at (808) 326-4646, ext. 229.
This was the fourth traffic fatality within five days and the ninth traffic fatality on Hawaiʻi Island in 2026, compared with 12 at the same time last year.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
-
Minneapolis, MN4 minutes agoMinneapolis grocery store owner charged in $1 million food assistance fraud
-
Indianapolis, IN10 minutes agoThese vacant school district properties will become affordable housing
-
Pittsburg, PA16 minutes agoMan shot and killed in East Hills
-
Augusta, GA22 minutes agoAugusta factory to produce key component for drugs to fight malaria
-
Washington, D.C28 minutes agoDC weather: Sunny, mild Tuesday; showers return Wednesday
-
Cleveland, OH34 minutes agoGuardians Set Off Alarm Bells for Kwan Yesterday
-
Austin, TX40 minutes agoCancer case highlights gaps in Texas protections for women firefighters
-
Alabama46 minutes agoAlabama House race in Jacksonville area draws a crowded field