Hawaii businesses face huge unemployment insurance tax hikes
Hawaii businesses could see their unemployment insurance triple if leaders don t rewrite a certain state law By Chelsea Davis | January 12, 2021 at 11:01 PM HST - Updated January 13 at 10:21 AM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii businesses could see their unemployment insurance taxes triple in the spring.
The state owes the federal government approximately $700 million after it took out a loan to shore-up unemployment funds last year. Under current state law, businesses have to pay off the loan.
Desperate to avoid that, state officials and legislators are racing to re-write the law.
“We are continuing to look at ways that we can pay back that loan,” said Linda Chu Takayama, Governor David Ige’s chief of staff.