Make individual tax cuts permanent
We need to revise the tax reform passed in December 2017 to make the individual income tax cuts permanent. They are currently set to expire at the end of 2025.
We also need to address the mortgage interest deduction cap of $750,000. In July 2017, the average cost of a single family home in Hawai’i was over $795,000. The average size of those homes was only 1300 sq. ft. compared to an average size of over 2000 sq. ft. on the mainland. Other than Washington DC, Hawai’i has the highest price per sq. ft. ratio in the country. Hawai’i has the worst ratio of average housing costs per sq. ft. compared to average income in the nation. We need to revise the tax reform to take that ratio into account when calculating the income tax mortgage deduction caps for each state.
Per CNBC:
- 2018 estimated federal income tax total of $1.87 Trillion
- The top 20% earners ($150K+) will pay 87% of the income taxes
- The top 1% ($730K+) will pay 43% of the income taxes
- The top 0.1% ($3.2M+) will pay 22% of the income taxes