[luau] What does Everyone think of ACT221?

[Ben Timmerman]

Virgil sez
> After listening to Ted Liu I'm...split 50/50 on the issue of whether 
> to change and better the act or don't do any changes at all which 
> most of the community has agreed.
then Warren sez
> ...but I think the issue is the stimulus was too large, and with some 
> loopholes some companies are taking [my insert="unfair"] advantage of 
> the situation.

OK, I'll weigh-in on this one, and I was very aware of the Liu talk 
this past evening, was curious, but just could not squeeze it in.  Wish 
I could hear the snynopis of that one.  Any bias that I might be 
accused of would be because I kinda follow those cyber/electronic pizza 
guyz(Courtney, Eran, and the gang) that meet the first two Tuesday's of 
every month at Ocean on UH Manoa campus.  I sense I fit in with the 
(silent) majority of all you who watch the traffic on the luau list if 
for no other reason than the sheer entertainment value.  God willing, 
I'll live long enough to actually take advantage of the brain trust 
that is in evidence here and become an effective open source warrior.

Concerning Act 221, if I recall an early explanation, tax liabilities 
for the capitalists of an IT "defined" venture are eliminated and 
amortized over the initial five-year period of the life of the 
company.  The idea was that it would be a hand up, as compared to a 
hand out, to get a venture past the gestation phase, and from then on 
the venture would shoulder the ongoing tax liabilities like any other 
business.  'Let's foster an island "silicon valley"'.  This waiver can 
turn out to be quite substantial and potentially the linchpin for such 
a venture to choose Hawai`i for it's birth.

The loop hole, has been that certain IT "defined" ventures have taken 
advantage of this hand up with absolutely no desire to live longer than 
the 5 year window that Act 221 provides.  "Blue Crush" and any movie 
venture is a perfect example of this kind of abuse.  None of us would 
ever define whatever the movie industry does as a business as an "IT" 
venture(more specifically, one designed to last longer than 5 years) 
and whoever allowed this precedent should be pilloried.

Don't get me wrong, whatever benefit to our islands' economy because of 
TV and movie efforts over the past decades including "Hawaiian Eye", 
Hawai`i 5-0", "Magnum PI", certain sitcom's summer vacation episodes 
filmed in Hawai`i(I was an extra on Maui one summer a long time ago for 
such a "Growing Pains" episode), "North Shore", "Blue Crush" and many 
more..., these benefits I think were substantial and the TV/film 
industry should be encouraged to produce in Hawai`i...not through Act 
221.

We should stay extremely vocal...plug the loop hole...and I think keep 
the basic numbers as they exist in the plan intact...but somehow there 
needs to be a way to ensure that this thing doesn't create 5-years-and-
out-by-design efforts.

Next person on the soap box, please.-Ben