We hope to see more of this.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle has proposed a two-year, $102 million tax relief package that will partially help people who are taking care of the elderly. Her package also has provisions for protecting retirement income.

Here's how it breaks down.

An expanded tax credit for adult care or childcare to a maximum of $5,000 per dependent each year.

A tax exemption on the first $25,000 in income from any source for retirees 65 and older.

A tax credit of up to 50 percent of the costs of modifying homes for elderly or disabled family members.  Maximum credit would be $2500 for singles and $5,000 for couples.

It's a start.  However, Gov. Lingle is facing fierce opposition from  some in the House and Senate because they claim it's too much and it will take away from other programs for the general public.

Here's my  opinion.

Most of these families are paying very high taxes.  They need to be able to keep as much money as possible to take care of their parents and the elderly without public assistance.  Many families want to be independent and want to make their own decisions without the government interfering.  It has been proven over and over it is much cheaper to maintain the elderly in their own homes than to institutionalize them.  In the long run, a great deal of money will be saved.

Read Hawaii Tax Relief Measures Proposed   

Popularity: 5% [?]

• Temper tantrums is one of the big elderly problems we don't like to talk about. n
  " title="motherinpark height=200 alt="" src="http://agingparentsauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/motherinpark.jpg" width=134/>Temper tantrums is one of the big elderly problems we don't like to talk about. n
  " border=0>Temper Tantrums Among Top Elderly Care Problems Temper tantrums is one of the big elderly problems we don't like to talk about. It's embarrassing and we feel very inadequate as caregivers when loss of temper and anger happens with our elderly parents. I've found an interesting article that talks openly about it and is reassuring to us......
• Know Early Dementia Symptoms Several  important early dementia symptoms can set off warning bells for anyone who is involved with elder care. Of course, we're all only too familiar with the memory problems, such as not being able to remember friends' names. But what about the more subtle signs such as your mothercriticising perfect......
• Businesses are Providing More Elder-Care Benefits  100 years ago your parents would have expected to have lived to be 49.Now the average life expectancy is 77 years.The fastest growing  group of the aging population are seniors over 85.  The second fastest are those over 75.What does that mean for us?There will be more of us dealing......
• Elder Care: The Biggest Problem Elder care is an issue many of us are grappling with all over the world. If you think you're alone, you're not. Here is one of the best articles on the prickly eldercare issues we have ever read.  It is from Rumana Rashid, writing for Bangladesh's New Nation. She hits on......
• Church Nurses Help Elderly with Better Care Options  Church nurses can find better care options for aging patients, explain medications, and teach chronic disease management.They are filling in the gaps for senior citizens who are often confused by an increasingly  fragmented health care system.According to Alvyne Rethemyer, director of  the International Parish Nurse Resource Center, helping the sick......

• College Tax Benefits from the 2009 Stimulus Package One of the most expensive outlays of money that a family encounters involves higher education costs.  Families are challenged with the job of deciding how to finance a child's college education by choosing one of these methods:  Paying cash out of personal reserves, an Education IRA, financing with Parents Plus......
• Fair Tax:  The Pros and Cons First of all let's be clear, with a name like "fair tax" it's difficult to argue against it.  "Fair tax" is a term like "Change we can believe in."  What does it really mean?  Nothing.  Instead think of the Fair Tax as a tax on consumerism (Consumer Tax).  It is......
• 5 Dangerous Misconceptions People Have About Money. Few subjects are as distorted by myths, half-truths and falsehoods as money. While most people know enough to get through their lives, Mark Twain described much shoddy thinking about money when he famously said: "It ain't so much what we know that gets us into trouble. It's what we know......
• Tax Breaks For New Home Buyers According to The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, passed by Congress in July, first time home buyers who purchase homes between April 8th 2008 and July 1st 2009 are eligible for a tax credit. They can get $7,500 tax credit or up to 10% of the......
• Weekend Round-up: Red Sox Clinch Edition With the Red Sox clinching the AL East for the first time in 12 years, I can finally relax a little bit. That relaxation is going to last only a couple of days. The playoffs start on Wednesday of next week, so it will be nail-biting time again. For the......