Caldwell: Honolulu Rail Tax Is Not ‘Chump Change’
Watch Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell argue with state Sen. Sam Slom over his word choices during a recent legislative hearing on a possible extension of the rail tax.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell had a heated exchanged with state Sen. Sam Slom this week over a controversial measure to extend a 0.5 percent General Excise Tax surcharge for the city’s cash-strapped rail system.
The two are diametrically opposed on the issue. Slom wants the $6 billion project scrapped before any more taxpayer dollars are spent. Caldwell sees rail as a tool of socioeconomic justice and believes the surcharge should be extended for at least another 25 years to help build it.
Neither of them got their way during Tuesday’s Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing when the panel voted on a measure to extend the tax surcharge for five years. Slom, of course, voted no, but not before getting into with Caldwell.
