Natalie has great ideas, except we are talking about government.  Unions are big donors to political campaigns, thus as Martin says, "You can't bite the hand that feeds you." Missing from this article is the reason Honolulu's property taxes are among the lowest in the nation.  This is because in most areas of the nation the property taxes pay for the schools, a job the State does in Hawaii. Without the large amount of money for education coming out of the property tax assessments it should be low. Leaving this fact out makes me wonder if CB is biased toward the tax increases. To whom does Caldwell owe jobs? There must be at least 29 based on the new employees needed by the two new Departments.Of course that 29 for the first year, certain to increase in the following years. It's also curious that CB mentions more than once how long it has been since taxes were increased. With more cars on the road, more houses and an increase in values so there has been much more taxes collected.