Empty Homes Tax: Some Like The Idea. Oʻahu Politicians Won’t Hear Of It

Housing in Hawaiʻi has been expensive for a long time. And for Wes Tashiro, who raised a family in ʻEwa Beach before downsizing to Makiki, it feels like there’s never any relief.

“It feels like it’s getting worse,” said Tashiro, who is retired after a career working at Hawaiian Electric Co. “I’ve just seen prices just go up out the door.”

Tashiro, 66, likes one solution that’s been proposed: taxing empty homes. Implementation could be tricky, he said, but he thinks it could help tame the housing market…

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