Tom Yamachika
Tom Yamachika is president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi.
Latest from Tom Yamachika
Community Voices: 'The Time Taxʻ: solutions for when government wastes our time
In her book, journalist and author Annie Lowrey explores how government paperwork, bureaucracy and administrative hurdles cause an “extortionate” burden on American citizens. She notes that Americans spend 12 billion hours every year filling out government forms. Tom Yamachika of Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi writes that the same is true within our stateʻs tax system, where changing your address can become a major headache.
Tom YamachikaOctober 06, 2026
Community Voices: Dear Mr. Paxton, pay your taxes
Paxton owns some property on Maui, according to reporting from a university affiliated news organization in Texas and Maui County property records. And the trust that manages his island home hasn’t paid his taxes.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 27, 2026
Community Voices: Getting into tax court
The moral of the story is this: if you have, or think you may have, a dispute with the Tax Department over taxes, get yourself a good tax practitioner who knows the rules and traps so you can skirt the edges and avoid falling into the pitfalls. And then, of course, lawmakers need to take a look at these rules and change them to get rid of the unfairness.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 25, 2026
Community Voices: A Fair Tax
Legislators are already gearing for the next legislative session — including new tax policies. This week, Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i, writes about how they could bring more fairness to taxes in Hawai‘i, along with insights into why "fair taxes" can be so difficult to define.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 15, 2026
Community Voices: Save Ala Moana!
The City & County of Honolulu received permits for beach replenishment at Ala Moana Regional Park back in 2019 but never moved forward for lack of funding. And yet, the county has $65 million accumulated in its Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund. Why isn't this money being used to replenish this beach, or Waikīkī Beach?
Tom YamachikaSeptember 09, 2026
Community Voices: Education Freedom Tax Credits
Hawaiʻi is hesitant to participate in the new federal program wrought by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would give a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for individual donations to school scholarship groups.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 03, 2026
Community Voices: When do judges have free speech?
Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Justices must follow federal interpretations of federal laws and the U.S. Constitution, but are in no way subordinate to the U.S. Supreme Court on issues of state law or the state constitution. That is part of the way our government was set up.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 01, 2026
Community Voices: Clean energy schizophrenia
Our state does a lot of giving and taking when it comes to energy use; when all the giving and taking is considered together, legitimate questions can be asked about who is benefiting and who is paying the price.
Tom YamachikaAugust 25, 2026
Community Voices: Honolulu Special Funds
Agencies that can spend money from special funds tend to spend them with little or no legislative oversight, and it becomes harder for the Legislature and the public to keep track of the money the more special funds there are, according to Tom Yamachika, president of Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi.
Tom YamachikaAugust 18, 2026
Community Voices: Taxation of Envy
Local media points to the recent enactment of the millionaires’ 13% tax bracket as evidence of lawmakers making “the wealthy” pay their “fair share.” It may be a millionaire’s tax today, Tom Yamachika argues; however, next year and beyond, it could change to a tax on half a million because those people are “wealthy.”
Tom YamachikaAugust 13, 2026
Community Voices: The one-dollar solution
Under the state constitution, surpluses are supposed to be returned to Hawai‘i's taxpayers. Here are some of the games lawmakers and governors play so that the amount returned is always, somehow, just a dollar.
Tom YamachikaJuly 28, 2026
Community Voices: Why care about the Dam Special Fund
Special funds have proliferated in Hawai‘i state government, to now more than 1,800. It's to the point that the Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i says it's impossible to know how much money state government actually has. The foundation sued over one of these funds for failing to follow state constitutional limits. Here's what happened to that case.
Tom YamachikaJuly 22, 2026