Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 5, 1 May 1991 — Land taxes unfair for " all " Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Land taxes unfair for " all " Hawaiians

Rowena Akana, Vice Chair OHA Board of Trustees

In an earlier article, (April 1991 Ka Wai Ola O OHA) Moses Keale praised Mayor Linda Lingle for Maui for her efforts to eliminate real property taxes for Hawaiians living on Hawaiian Home Lands. Her assessments were

based on the fact that lessees cannot buy their land, cannot sell it or encumber it, have no equity in it but are forced to pay taxes on the so-called "fair-market value of the land." I say, why stop there? Since there is unequivocal proof that our lands were illegally taken in 1893 and while even under the kingdom when Hawaiians did nof own land outright, they were

still cared for by their chiefs. If Hawaiians ean prove that their ancestors lived in these lands from 1778, they too should be exempt from all land taxes. Can you think of a more equitable form of reparations? To some, this idea will sound like a statement made by someone who flew over the cuckoo's nest. However, to those people I say: • Remember how crazy people thought the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana were? Now the U.S. Congress and Senate are trying to save this island. • Remember how crazy people thought the idea of sovereignty was? Now every group in town is trying to eome up with their own model of sovereignty. Sen. Dan Inouye and his staff are working tirelessly trying to help many Hawaiian groups to eome together on a plan that would produce a workable model of sovereignty. Our Governor, in his State of the State Message this year, affirmed his commitment to the Hawaiian people to address the issues of sovereignty.

I believe that the Year of the Hawaiian and Ho'olako was only the beginning of Hawaiians coming together to realize their dreams of a unified Hawaiian people.