Justin, William Baldwin’s eleven-count list in “Do You Live in a Death Spiral State?” is FLAWED MATHEMATICS for State of Hawaii. As you noted; “For another thing, the “takers” list includes pensioners”. Mr. William Baldwin neglects the fact that if the state has advantageous tax laws for retirees it will attract more retirees from out of state and how many pensioners do you think Hawaii has when the state offers the following: State of Hawaii Retirement Income Taxes: Social Security, first tier Railroad Retirement benefits, military, federal, state, municipal, and some private pensions are exempt. All out-of-state government pensions are exempt. Also, employer-funded pension plans are exempt. Distributions from private employer pension plans received upon retirement are partially taxed by the state if the employee contributed to the pension plan. I’m one who moved from Rhode Island and there is a count of over 600 Rhode Islanders who also moved to Hawaii. The City and County of Honolulu because of recession has increased my real property annual tax bill from $100 per year to $300 per year and there is NO property tax on cars, trucks motorcycles and boats in Hawaii and sales tax is 4% except in County of Honolulu where a 0.05% surcharge was added to pay for $5.5 billion high speed 20 mile light rail transit system (0.05% surcharge will be eliminated in 2025). If you live below 3,000 ft. level there are NO heating bills and NO fall, winter or spring clothing wardrobes required only summer clothing because median 365 daily temperature is 78 F degrees and winter nighttime low is 60 F degrees. Also October unemployment numbers for Hawaii state-wide is 5.5% and normal average is 2% to 3% plus City and County of Honolulu where 80% of states 1.3 million live and work is… Read more »