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Editor’s note: Today we say aloha to our newest regular columnist, Luke Evslin. Luke, the co-owner of a Kailua-based outrigger canoe manufacturing company, lives off the grid on Kauai with his wife, three dogs, two cats and a slew of ducks and chickens. He was the winner of Civil Beat’s Emerging Writers contest last December. You may also recognize his name from his previous contribution to our Community Voices section. He offers a perspective from within Hawaii, but outside of Oahu. Watch for his column every other week in Civil Beat. 

The other day I rode the Kauai Bus to testify in front of our County Council on a proposed bill to raise the excise tax. The hourly bus arrived 20 minutes late; we sat in traffic for an extra 20 minutes; and so the half hour trip ended up taking me over an hour.

Such are the pitfalls of public transportation on Kauai — but, as a regular user of the bus, I expected those.

What surprised me was the contrast between the users of the bus and the mostly white and middle-aged crowd testifying at the Kauai council chambers.

Obviously, I have nothing against testimony from white and middle-aged people — as that will soon be me.

But we’re not hearing from those who will be most affected by this regressive tax.

We’re not hearing from the guy, waiting anxiously for the 12:00 bus, who said, “I’m going to lose my job if this bus doesn’t come soon.”

We’re not hearing from the worried father who had to ask for spare change so that he could afford to take his daughter to the hospital.

Hawaii has the  per capita in the country and Kauai () has the highest statewide rate of families at risk of homelessness. Yet nobody wants to go in front of a camera to testify about how detrimental a 0.5 percent increase in the tax on goods is to their livelihoods.

And so the testimony revolved around two steady themes: On one side is the sentiment that we need to increase the excise tax to fund our decaying infrastructure, and on the other is the idea that the county shouldn’t subsidize public transportation.

Both viewpoints conveniently ignore those who have to choose every month between food and rent.

Those who are loudest on Facebook, those who write letters to the editor of the local paper, and those who hold public office are all often buffered from the social effects of their decisions.

Yet, whether they are fiscal conservatives or transit-oriented environmentalists, those who are loudest on Facebook, those who are writing letters to the editor of the local paper, and those who hold public office, are all often buffered from the social effects of their decisions.

If the bus stops running, that’s OK — I own a car.

If the excise tax increases by 0.5 percent, that’s OK — I can afford groceries.

Both options come off of the backs of those who can least afford it. Yet, increasingly, those are the choices that we’re left with.

We’re facing Hawaii’s third major transition since Captain Cook. First were the missionaries, the decimation of Hawaii Natives by introduced diseases, the end of ‘ai kapu and the birth of sugar through to the overthrow.

Next was the Democratic Revolution, unionization, statehood, the birth of a middle class, and the economic leap forward driven by development, population growth and tourism growth.

And now we’re facing a slowdown in economic growth from many causes: the decline of agriculture because of globalization, the end of high growth in tourism, the end of high growth in population, the high costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the stagnation of wages.

With slightly differing regional symptoms, this general malaise is being felt throughout most of the world. The 21st century isn’t turning out to be like we hoped.

But no, just building a wall or won’t get us back on track. Our illness is more systemic and the solutions more mundane than those clamoring for the bully pulpit would suggest.

As Thomas Piketty describes in his best-selling economics tome, “,” inequality is rising in developed countries because the rate of return on capital exceeds overall economic growth. That means investment return on accrued or inherited wealth– whether it’s in stocks, land, or equipment– increases much faster than wages do.

Growing inequality “radically undermines the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based.” — Thomas Piketty, economist.

So those with money make more money at a faster rate than those who rely on wages. And unless we correct for it, inequality will continue to rise — with disastrous results.

In Piketty’s words: this growing inequality “radically undermines the meritocratic values on which democratic societies are based.”

Yes, a rising tide floats all boats. And so economic growth traditionally has acted as a pressure-release valve to mounting inequality. Because as long as the economic pie is bigger next year than it was this year, then we’re all better off and social mobility increases — even if we’re growing further apart.

But, as Piketty writes, “if the rates of population and productivity growth are relatively low, then accumulated wealth naturally takes on considerable importance, especially if it grows to extreme proportions and becomes socially destabilizing.”

In Hawaii, our population growth is , our growth in personal income is of what it was during the second half of the 20th century, and our levels of

To these problems, add in the effects and high costs of climate change– which “by far, the most important policy issue facing America and the world”— and we’re facing a future that looks very different from what we’ve gotten used to.

A slowing economy, rising inequality and the mounting costs of delayed action on climate change — these are the fundamental problems that every state and local government is tasked with solving.

And, so addressing those three trends needs to form the basis for all 21st century policy prescriptions.

Low-income families in Hawaii payu  in the country (as a percentage of income). And excise taxes in Hawaii affect the bottom 20 percent of families 10 times more than high-income families (eating up 10 percent versus 1 percent of income) — making them the most regressive type of taxation in our state.

With the goals of expanding the economy and reducing inequality, almost any other form of raising revenue would be better than increasing the excise tax.

So, in order to fund public transportation and repair our roads without increasing the excise tax, we need a substantial increase in the gas tax and the vehicle weight tax. They are less regressive than excise taxes, they charge users of the roads, and they act to mitigate climate change while reducing congestion.

And, with taxes in the nation, Kauai County needs to continue to explore ways in which it can make while reducing their impact on low-income families.