Whaaaaat? Here’s an email that came my way a couple of days ago, forwarding news from California.

There is talk on California radio of Lingle running with McCain!!!!!!

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joan C
Date: August 5, 2008 8:29:43 AM HST
To: J
Subject: Lingle

Oh my God, they’re talking about the idea of having her run w/McCain on Pasadena College Radio 89.3.

It’s true. An item on The Huffington Post last week pointed to Lingle and two other female GOP governors as having the right qualities to serve as VP. A column by Matt Cooper made a similar point back on July 10, complete with mug shots. Before anyone gets too excited, the downside of a Lingle selection has also been noted.

However, choosing her would have quite a bit of downside and wouldn’t do much to help McCain. Her pro-choice record, her support for a plan that many have described as secessionist, the fact that campaigning in Barack Obama’s birthplace would be a huge waste of resources and her dour personality all militate against putting her on the ticket….

Most importantly, Governor Lingle doesn’t bring anything to the table that other candidates don’t….

But the buzz, such as it is, certainly doesn’t do any harm to Lingle’s future political aspirations.

The Advertiser gave a new Tax Foundation report on comparative “tax burdens” prominent play in its business section today. I was disappointed to see that the ‘Tiser stayed with the script, which must have been one of a fifty-state barrage by the Tax Foundation, judging from a Google search for today’s news coverage.

The Advertiser story doesn’t include a link to the study, which you can find here. Actual data the foundation used to come up with the state-by-state figures are not reported, so there’s really no way to seriously evaluate the numbers presented. But the study is interesting nonetheless.

First thing I noted is that the Tax Foundation uses an unusual measure that includes state and local taxes paid by Hawaii residents as well as taxes paid by Hawaii residents in other states, either while traveling, doing business on the mainland, or in property taxes on mainland real estate owned. So the overall measure is not simply the result of Hawaii’s tax policies.

Second, although Hawaii is ranked 5th in overall tax burden by the Tax Foundation, it isn’t far above the national average. According to the study, the overall tax rate for Hawaii residents is 10.6 percent, while the national average is 9.7%. That means that according to the foundation’s study, we pay just 9.3% more overall than the national average, including what we pay to other states. Walk around a mainland supermarket and you’ll quickly realize that almost everything costs more here in the islands, so the fact that we pay an extra 9.3% shouldn’t be either a surprise or a shock, and certainly not cause for lots of hand wringing.

Third, and maybe most important, Table 3 in the study shows Hawaii residents are paying the taxes (in proportion to income) as we did in 1977, and that figure has varied only marginally over the past thirty years, ranging from a low of 10.1% in 1985 to 11% in 1995. This appears to indicate that the tax burden has been essentially stable in Hawaii for decades, contrary to the continual cries from those who consistently complain about an increasingly crushing tax burden.

Anyway, it’s always interesting to look beyond the press release to see what’s really there.

In case you were wondering what it was like in Kaaawa at 6:20 this morning, here’s your answer.

It was beautiful, despite a little rain on the horizon.

As usual.