 Aloha, everyone. I'm Kaylee Akeena, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. It's become an annual tradition, just like counting in the new year or setting off fireworks on the 4th of July. Every year in late January, we observe the running of new tax proposals at our state legislature. Now, it doesn't matter whether the economy is good or bad, if the state budget is in trouble or in surplus, or even if the country is going through a global depression sparked by a pandemic. The opening of the Hawaii legislature is always the signal for the introduction of new tax bills, sometimes dressed up as, quote, surcharges, fees, or closing loopholes. Now, this year is no different than past years. So far, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has identified dozens of new tax bills for consideration during the 2021 legislative session. And let me give you a few. They'll make you cry or they'll make you laugh. A car tax on the purchase of any non-zero emission vehicles. Proposals to raise the base of the general excise tax to 4.5% from 4%. A three-year surcharge on the liquor tax. Now, you know, that's literally a tax on top of a tax. A proposed constitutional amendment to remove the exclusive authority of the counties to tax real property. Why? So that your state can also tax you real property as well. New taxes on the struggling tourism industry, including a sustainable tourism tax and a surcharge on the transient accommodation tax. Again, a tax on top of a tax. And proposals into increase the top marginal income tax rate to 18% or 16% from 11%. Now, a carbon tax is also being proposed and a hike in the barrel tax that would increase the tax on gasoline to 56 cents a gallon from 3 cents a gallon right now. And there are many, many more. The list goes on. You see, it's not clear whether the tax hikes are being proposed in a misguided attempt to bring in more state revenues. But there's wide agreement that the tax increases are the wrong move for Hawaii to make. The sad fact is that Hawaii's businesses and residents already are subject to some of the highest taxes in the country. And more taxes would only slow our recovery. Forget expensive projects. Instead, the legislature's focus should be on helping residents and rebuilding local industries. Reviving the economy in turn would generate the tax revenues our state so desperately needs. The simple truth is that you don't need to raise taxes to increase state revenues. You simply need to encourage economic growth, allowing entrepreneurs and businesses to get back to work and do what they do best, produce goods and services, provide jobs and generate taxable profits. All of this would yield all the tax revenues our legislators could want to balance the state's budget. Considered that the new projections from the Council of Revenues were based only on a few points worth of economic improvement, but they resulted in substantial boost to the budget. By putting our focus on bringing back the economy, such as through the recommendations presented in the Grassroot Institute's Roadmap to Recovery, we could have the best of both worlds. Higher state revenues without higher taxes. I'm Kaylee Iakena with the Grassroot Institute. You can get our report, Roadmap to Recovery, at grassrootinstitute.org. Aloha.