BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gas-price cap to increase 11¢
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i's wholesale gasoline price cap will rise 11 cents next week to $2.08 a gallon for regular on O'ahu, the Public Utilities Commission reported yesterday.
When taxes and a 20-cents-a-gallon retail margin is included, Honolulu street prices could rise to $2.90 a gallon.
The increase follows a 14-cents-a-gallon jump in the cap this week as crude oil prices edged higher.
Service stations aren't regulated and are free to set their own prices at the pump, though generally the retail rates have been following the movements of the wholesale cap up and down.
WEB SITE HELPS ON MINIMUM TAX
Hawai'i residents trying to determine whether they may be subject to the federal Alternative Minimum Tax now can get help on the Internet. The new tool is available on the IRS site (http://apps.irs .gov/app/amt/) and should help taxpayers get an answer within 10 minutes. The AMT Assistant requests that you have your draft 2005 Form 1040 available and completed through Line 44. You will be entering information from the 1040 and, if used, Schedule A.
More people may find themselves subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax this year because income exemptions expired that kept the assessment from applying to most middle-income or lower taxpayers.
A U.S. Treasury Department projection shows that without bigger income exemptions, married taxpayers with two children and adjusted gross income of more than $67,890 may have to pay the AMT.
Congressional observers believe Congress most likely will act on restoring the bigger exemptions later this year.
KEIR RETIRES FROM FIRST HAWAIIAN
Gerry Keir has retired from First Hawaiian Bank, effective Dec. 31, after serving for 10 years as senior vice president and later executive vice president of corporate communications.
Keir joined the bank in 1995 after 27 years as a reporter and editor at The Advertiser, including six years as the newspaper's top editor.
His duties at the bank have been assumed by Brandt Farias, executive vice president of the marketing communications division.
