To: Senate Committee on Ways & Means
Attn: Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, Vice Chair Gilbert Keith-Agaran, and Committeemembers
Hawaiʻi Workers Center Testimony for March 4, 2021, Committee Hearing
Supporting SB614, Exempting From State Income Tax, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) as Well as Unemployment Compensation Received by an Individual During the Period of March 1, 2020, Through December 31, 2020. It Also Allows Taxpayers to Credit the State Income Tax That Was Deducted and Withheld From Their Unemployment Compensation or PUA Against Their Overall State Tax Liability
The Hawaiʻi Workers Center (HWC) is a resource and organizing center that addresses the issues and concerns of unemployed workers, low-wage workers and immigrants. For the past several months, we have been publicly advocating for unemployed workers, urging the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) to reopen its unemployment offices and provide safe, direct, in-person services for the thousands of workers who have been furloughed or permanently laid off since March 2020. Given the poor condition of DLIR’s archaic mainframe computer, the difficulty of submitting a claim, and the department’s failure to be responsive to claimants’ emails and phone calls, direct servicing that keeps claimants and public employees safe is urgent and essential.
We sincerely congratulate the unemployed workers who were able to navigate through the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system, despite inadequate communications from the DLIR, in order to receive the assistance that they need to survive. With the COVID-19 pandemic being an ever-present crisis in our lives as businesses remain closed, workers remain unemployed or with reduced hours, and more of us need to stay at home to take care of ourselves and our family members, UI takes on a very crucial role in our lives. While the world has changed dramatically and financial situations for so many of our friends and family have grown more difficult, tuition still needs to be paid, groceries still need to be bought, teeth still need to be checked on, cars still need to be repaired, people are on the verge of eviction, and that doesn’t even include the emergencies that come up every now and then in our lives. We need money to pay the bills and meet our basic needs.
By exempting PUA and other unemployment benefits from state income tax, the legislature can make sure that more money stays in people’s pockets. This will help to unload at least some of the financial burdens that workers are facing right now. It will also allow working class families to have enough to spend on local businesses and to save up to help their families make it through this pandemic and economic crisis.
SD1’s amendment allowing for taxpayers to credit the state income tax that was deducted and withheld from their unemployment benefits or PUA against their overall state tax liability is helpful in terms of tax fairness, but the Hawaiʻi Workers Center prefers the original language in SB614. The original language in SB614 required the Department of Taxation to retroactively refund state income tax deducted and withheld from individuals for unemployment benefits during the period of March 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. We prefer this because money would directly return back to the pockets of working class families in desperate need of relief, without placing the onus on them to navigate or extend further resources to ask others to navigate through the world of taxes. Workers, employed or unemployed, have a lot more pressing concerns at the moment.
We also ask for the legislature to stand up for their constituents, many who still have been unable to file unemployment claims, or who are having trouble with their current claims. We need to continue to urge the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations Director and other state officials to implement common sense solutions like safely reopening DLIR offices in each county for direct in-person services, resolve staffing shortages and technological inadequacies at the Unemployment Insurance office, as well as open up computers in public spaces like our libraries with trained staff. This will help to ensure that unemployed workers get the service that they deserve, allowing for families to be able to finally receive some relief.
Submitted by Rev. Sam Domingo, John Witeck, and Jun Shin of the Hawaiʻi Workers Center
Phone Number: 808-255-6663
Email: hiworkerscenter[@]gmail.com
To: Senate Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts
Attn: Senator Brian Taniguchi, Chair, and Committee members
Hawaii Workers Center Testimony for February 5, 2021, Committee hearing
Supporting SB614, Exempting Unemployment Benefits Received From 03/01/20 to 12/31/20 From State Income Tax & Refunding State Income Tax Already Deducted or Withheld During That Time
The Hawaii Workers Center (HWC) is a resource and organizing center which addresses the issues and concerns of low-wage workers and immigrants. For the past 6 months, we have been publicly advocating for unemployed workers, urging the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) to reopen its unemployment offices and provide safe, direct, in-person services for the thousands of workers who have been furloughed or permanently laid off since March 2020. Given the poor condition of DLIR’s archaic mainframe computer, the difficulty of submitting a claim, and the department’s failure to be responsive to claimants’ emails and phone calls, direct servicing is urgent and essential.
We sincerely congratulate the unemployed workers who were able to navigate through the inadequate responses and communications from the DLIR in order to receive the assistance that they need to survive. With the COVID-19 pandemic being an ever present crisis in our lives, Unemployment Insurance becomes super crucial as businesses remain closed, workers remain unemployed or with reduced hours, and more of us need to stay at home to take care of ourselves and our family members. While the world has changed dramatically in the last year and financial situations for so many of our friends and family have grown more difficult, tuition still needs to be paid, groceries still need to be bought, teeth still need to be checked on, cars still need to be repaired, and that doesn’t even include the unexpected emergencies that occasionally come up in our lives. We need money to pay the bills and meet our basic needs.
By exempting unemployment benefits from state income tax, as well as refunding what had already been deducted or withheld from the beginning of March of last year to the end of December, the State can make sure more money can stay or return to people’s pockets, helping to unload at least some of the financial burdens of Hawaiʻi’s working families. We also need to support members of our community who still have been unable to file unemployment claims or who are having trouble with their current claims, continuing to urge the DLIR Director and other state officials to implement solutions like safely reopening DLIR offices in each county, resolving staffing shortages and technological issues/inadequacies at the Unemployment Insurance office, and opening up public access computers in libraries with trained staff. This will help ensure that unemployed workers can be served directly so that they can get assistance as needed, receive answers to their questions, and allow for more families to be able to finally receive some relief.
Submitted by Rev. Sam Domingo, John Witeck, and Jun Shin of the Hawaiʻi Workers Center
Phone Number: 808-255-6663
Email: hiworkerscenter[@]gmail.com