ISLAND VOICES
We need to 'expand' price caps

By Mike Miyashiro

Mike Miyashiro is assistant general manager at Diamond Head Petroleum Inc. and has 14 years experience in the Hawai'i petroleum industry.

Hawai'i's lawmakers are truly courageous in their efforts to implement the gasoline price caps in Senate Bill 3193. After all, they are embarking on something that has never been done in the history of America — making it illegal for a business to make more profit than what politicians say they can.

Regardless that the Cayetano-appointed Stillwater report, Federal Trade Commission and other government-controlled economies throughout history have advised against or proven the failures of price controls. Historical data, examples and facts don't matter. It's intention that counts.

And our legislators have good intentions. They want the people of Hawai'i to have lower prices. This is a good thing, is it not?

Well if it is, then we must take this good intention and make it an across-the-board policy. I propose a Senate Bill 3193-B, which identifies every high cost in Hawai'i and puts a price cap on it. We can start with something of greater importance and priority to Hawai'i residents than gasoline prices — the price of a home.

According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the average Hawai'i home now costs nearly $400,000. But the National Association of Realtors says the average U.S. home is only $222,000. That's a $178,000 difference. According to our politicians, we should not have this kind of disparity between Hawai'i and the Mainland.

And while we're at it, what about a price cap on taxes?

An American Federation of Teachers report shows that a teacher would have a higher salary in Nevada than in Hawai'i. And yet Nevada does not require their teachers to pay income tax while Hawai'i does. Again, using the Mainland versus Hawai'i comparison as a rationale, there appears to be an inequality here. Some would even say tax gouging.

Perhaps that same "price cap" formula can be used here as a "tax cap."

But let's be honest. These are only Band-Aid approaches to lower the high cost of living in Hawai'i. What's needed is a comprehensive overhaul of government. A Senate Bill 3193-C that would require all businesses to submit all revenues to a state Department of Economic Fairness and Equality Distribution.

Oops. I forgot. That's socialism. Something that's already been tried for nearly a hundred years and has failed.