Hawaiʻi Tax Fairness Coalition
For a tax system that supports working families.
Our Purpose
Hawaiʻi’s low- and middle-income families are struggling with the rising cost of living. We believe that these families should owe less taxes, and the top 1% should pay higher taxes to support the programs and services that we all benefit from.
What Taxes Pay For
Our $10.8+ billion in tax revenue goes to schools, hospitals, roads, affordable housing, and many other priorities.
These numbers reflect current costs to the state (FY 2025)
Healthcare
Cost to Hawai'i: $1.83 billion a year
Health coverage for 441,000 children and adults
Affordable Housing
Cost to Hawai'i: $305+ million a year
Building affordable units, rental assistance, and homelessness programs
Cost to Hawai'i: $1.76 billion a year
Education for 165,000+ students across 296 schools
Food Security
Cost to Hawai'i: $30+ million
School meals and SNAP administration
HR1 (“One Big Beautiful Bill”) will take millions of federal dollars away from Hawai'i
Adding $36 to $109 million in costs for SNAP—food benefits for low-income households
108,000 Hawai'i residents will be at risk of losing Medicaid coverage
To protect our programs and services, Hawai'i must raise taxes on the wealthy.
To learn more about the budget, read Hawaii Appleseed’s Budget Primer.
Public K-12 Schools
Creating a Fairer Tax System
In Hawai’i, the wealthy—including many part-time residents—can take advantage of special tax breaks and loopholes. We need to balance the tax code by raising taxes on the top 1%, out-of-state investors, and corporations.
