Renters who needed financial relief inadvertently exposed tax evaders, state says Renters who needed financial relief inadvertently exposed tax evaders, state says By Lynn Kawano | December 17, 2020 at 4:15 PM HST - Updated December 17 at 8:22 PM HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Over the course of the pandemic, thousands of renters who couldn’t pay their monthly bills applied for help from the state’s Rent, Relief & Housing Assistance Program. Nearly 13,000 renters actually received the benefit, which was funded by CARES Act money and was paid out directly to their landlords. In all, more than 18,000 people applied for relief ― and many of them inadvertently exposed landlords who didn’t have General Excise Tax licenses and had likely been able to avoid paying taxes on rent revenue.