HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hundreds, or even thousands of dollars could be coming to your bank account soon.
The state legislature is set to vote on a bill including a tax refund for Hawaii filers, with single tax-payers making less than $100,000 per year or married couples making less than $200,000 filing jointly getting $300 per filer and dependent. For example, a family of four would receive $1,200.
Those who make above those thresholds would get $100 per filer and dependent.
“I think there’s broad support, we can both houses to make sure that we can provide some relief, especially as gas prices go up,” said Senate Ways & Means Committee chair Donovan Dela Cruz.
With inflation at 8.5% in March, Hawaii’s estimated 166,000 residents living in poverty get hit hardest. Sen. Dela Cruz hopes this will help.
“If we could provide more, we definitely would,” Sen. Dela Cruz said. “We had to work within the limitations of the federal in us receiving the American rescue plan Act funds, the $1.6 billion that we received from the federal government.”
Paying the bills can do a lot.
Eric Stinton is a teacher at Kailua Intermediate School who says the majority of kids he sees struggling with reading come from unstable, low-income homes.
He believes even a small amount of money for families will have a positive impact.
“Just being able to kind of empathize and see from that perspective, what it feels like and what it means to not know where your next meal is coming from,” Stinton said. “Not knowing what’s going on with the family members that you love that might be addicted, or on the streets and all those things make it really, really hard for you to concentrate on the basic academic skills that schools are trying to teach.”
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The bill is scheduled to go to the floor Tuesday. Sen. Dela Cruz expects it to pass a full vote in the legislature by Thursday with payments going out as soon as they can be processed.
