• Court backs county in ‘ohana case – The Garden Island’s report:

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court has invalidated a voter-approved charter amendment its proponents say was intended to save millions in tax bills for thousands of property owners who own their homes and live in them.

In an Aug. 6 ruling, the court permitted the county to file a lawsuit to prevent Mayor Bryan Baptiste, then-finance director Michael Tresler and the Kaua‘i County Council from implementing the Ohana Kaua‘i measure, which was approved in the November 2004 General Election.

The court also ruled the charter amendment violated a provision of the Hawai‘i Constitution that gives exclusively taxing authority to the county councils from each island.

But Ohana Kaua‘i won on one count — that its measure didn’t violate the county charter, as contended by the county.

Full article.

• HawaiiReporter’s take on the decision:

Pacific Legal Foundation Managing Attorney Robert Thomas…

Continue Reading ▪ Reports of Kauai Property Tax/Standing Appeal

Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Acoba, joined by Justice Duffy, filed an extensive dissenting opinion in yesterday’s decision in County of Kauai ex rel. Nakazawa v. Baptiste (or, as it should now be called Kauai County Council v. County of Kauai), on the issue of standing that’s worth reading:

DISSENTING OPINION BY ACOBA, J.,
WITH WHOM DUFFY, J., JOINS

With all due respect, our role is to protect the judicial process, not to subvert it.

In sua sponte deleting Defendant-Appellee Kauai County Council (County Council) as a defendant in this case and adding it back as the putative plaintiff in order to create a supposed controversy between the County Council and Defendant-Appellee Mayor of Kauai (Mayor) and Defendant-Appellee Finance Director of Kauai (Finance Director), the majority does exactly that, manipulating the lawsuit so as to create a controversy that did not in fact exist when the suit was filed, when…

Continue Reading ▪ HAWSCT: Dissenting Opinion in Kauai Property Tax Appeal

The Hawaii Supreme Court has issued its opinion in the Kauai property tax case, County of Kauai v. Baptiste (No. 27351, Aug. 6, 2007).  A collection of posts on the case here.  [Note: I represent the Appellants.]

Bottom line: judgment affirmed in all significant respects.  First: government officials possess the power to manufacture and funda lawsuit against themselves.  Second: the Ohana Kauai property tax measure (a voter-enacted amendment to the county charter) violated the Hawaii Constitution, because it grants the power to set property tax policy only to county “governments.” 

The score: 3-2.  Majority opinion by Moon, C.J., joined by Justices Levinson and Nakayama.

Justice Acoba authored the dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justice Duffy.  Continue Reading ▪ HAWSCT: Decision in Kauai Property Tax Appeal

Kauai’s newspaper, The Garden Island, has posted a story “Legal funds approved for Ohana Kauai battle.”  The appeal, summarized in the story, was argued in February 2007, and is awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court of Hawaii.

Ohana Kauai, a citizens group, helped put thetax relief measure on the November 2004 General Election ballot becauseit felt property tax reform was needed in light of skyrocketingassessments and huge county budgets.

The measure passed with 75 percent of the voters in support of it.

Asubsequent charter amendment proposed lowering homeowner property taxesto 1998 levels and limiting yearly increases to 2 percent.

Butthe county challenged the measure’s validity, questioning whether theamendment should be able to override the county’s state-approved taxingauthority.

Attorneys for Ohana Kauai said citizens also have that right, by law.

In order to prevent the amendment from taking effect, the county attorney filed a lawsuit against the…

Continue Reading ▪ Kauai Official: “The lawsuit was set up to get a court determination on the ballot issue” — More on Kauai’s Property Tax Charter Amendment Appeal

California Political Review has posted an op-ed about the Kauai real property tax appeal, currently awaiting a decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Californians will recall that Proposition 13, with its promise of relief from crushing property taxation, was opposed by most of the state’s political establishment. Even after its approval by voters at the polls, various forces fought a rearguard campaign against full implementation.

But no strategy to undercut tax-limitation in California has been quite so brazen as what has happened in Hawaii, where local government officials on one island have actually sued themselves in an audacious effort to smother a voter-approved measure to aid hard-pressed homeowners. It is a reminder of how creative government can be when bureaucrats see their self-interest at risk. Government officials on the Island of Kauai evidently think the amount of property tax homeowners pay is a decision too important to be trusted…

Continue Reading ▪ Government’s Creative Assault on Property Tax Relief

Here is the unofficial transcript of the Feb. 15, 2007 oral arguments in County of Kauai ex rel. Nakazawa v. Baptiste,the appeal challenging the “Kauai v. Kauai” intragovernmental lawsuitinvolving 2004’s Ohana Kauai property tax Charter Amendment.  The recording of the arguments is posted here.Continue Reading ▪ Transcript of Oral Arguments in Kauai Property Tax Appeal

The recording of the Feb. 15, 2007 oral arguments in County of Kauai ex rel. Nakazawa v. Baptiste, the appeal challenging the “Kauai v. Kauai” intragovernmental lawsuit involving 2004’s Ohana Kauai property tax Charter Amendment is now available, in three parts:

• Appellants’ opening argument (20mb)

• Appellee’s argument / Appellants’ rebuttal (at 14:45) (27mb)

• Appellee’s rebuttal (5mb)

Summaries of the arguments here and here (Hawaii Public Radio report).

    
Continue Reading ▪ Oral Arguments in Kauai Property Tax Appeal (mp3)

A letter to the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser (scroll down to “Analysis of Prop. 13’s Effect Missed the Mark”) by the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association correcting the article Echoes of California’s Prop. 13 in Kauai’s tax case:

California is still a high tax state — we rank sixth in per capita taxation — but by making taxes predictable, Proposition 13 provides to all homeowners the security of knowing their future tax liability, which allows them to budget accordingly.
    
Continue Reading ▪ Correcting Misperceptions of Prop 13