Hawaii needs to find better ways to raise money and provide more benefits to visitors than it does now.
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Hawaii needs to find better ways to raise money and provide more benefits to visitors than it does now.
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So, as an owner of a Hilton Grande Vacation property on the Big Island, am I considered a landowner or a visitor when I use my deeded in Hawaii property. Am I exempt from this fee? Should be!
How ironic they want tourists to come back. Now they want to charge a 50 tourist fee. I thought that was already deemed illegal? How much of that money are they Hawaiian people going to see?
We are among Hawaii’s “low-end” visitors. We have stayed in Lahaina for well over 25 years, and have visited all the other islands. Our family, and the many relatives who have joined us over the years, generally visit for 10 days to two weeks. When this “visitor fee” was first proposed I felt insulted and unwanted. This is part of why Hawaii has become less and less popular as a destination; it has become less and less affordable for so many people that the islands are now losing revenue. Instead of lowering the prices of alternative places to stay the prices were raised. We may not be “high end” visitors, but we have more than contributed to the Hawaiian economy in the past by our frequent stays.
Does anyone know of any US State that tells you only rich people are welcomed there?
What a scam!!
It’s not a state, but Martha’s Vineyard comes to mind. Immigrants were quickly shuttled away when they came to live the good life if I remember right.
I hope you aren’t comparing USA citizens to illegal aliens.
A couple of concerns here. Where does the money go and who manages it? Second, they say the money would go towards services like firefighters. Living in Oregon visitors don’t pay fees to generate money for those services. It’s called city budgets and bonds/measures the voters vote on, which in turn is called taxes. Again we don’t charge visitors to do what are elected leaders are responsible for.
Nothing says “Aloha” like a $50 fee.
The US Fed Reserve’s newest numbers say that 2% of people have 44% of all household wealth. That’s why I prefer progressive fees, rather than regressive fees/taxes that make everyone else pay. On top of that, Hawaii seems to be saying that they want the rich as their tourists – though it isn’t clear to me why when it is mostly the billionaire hotel and airline owners who will get the big bulk of the big money, with just some scraps for Hawaii residents. Instead, an international team should be assembled to create a plan with goals like serving everyone, reducing inequality, improving quality of life, and other worthwhile values beyond simple “more of the same that hasn’t worked yet.”
Of course the top 1% pays 39% of all federal income tax. I would be in favor of all taxes be designated for specific purposes and that 80% go directly to the end product (the people).
Did 10 years with the DOE, and since I can’t afford an $800 a night hotel room. I guess I am “low end.” What an offensive, elitist thought.
These “low end” visitors fill the economy airline seats, shop for the best deals on a rental car, and patronize our restaurants. A Green low-ender— that’s me—-and maybe, you, too.
“Scraps for Hawaii residents” is not the fault of the billionaires and corporations. The article clearly states “Everyone wonders where the state’s highest accommodation tax in the country goes”. The answer to your concern is in that sentence. Mismanagement, wasteful spending and bad policies of the Hawai’i elected officials from the bottom up. You get what you vote for.
I spent my career in business (high tech, including management and strategy at successful Fortune 500s). I look at Hawaii and I see high margin businesses and low margin businesses. The high margin businesses are able to gain dominant market position. We’re talking hotels, airlines, restaurant chains, rental car agencies and a wide variety of “commodity” providers. The locals are left to the lower margin, less scalable businesses. An accommodation tax on top of that is completely separate, and paid by the tourist. So the bulk of the wealth goes to those running the high margin businesses, and that is where the bulk of the “rich tourist” wealth will go. I stand by my analysis — “scraps for residents”.
You missed my point. It’s not about who, how and where they’re making profit, but what happens with those tax dollars (high TAT and GET, progressive income tax for the wealthy) once they fill the local gov pockets, how are they spent and how much of that money is returned to the people of Hawai’i by their own government giving people scraps. Living between Hawai’i and Mainland for almost 20 years I’ve seen massive misspending, mismanagement and poor investment in infrastructure, education etc. O’ahu rail, Lahaina fires, and much more than can fit on this page. Blaming outsiders is a wrong and lazy approach. Maui tragedy is another chance for Hawai’i officials to fix their governing model and learn from it.
If only, Keoki. Hawaii had 2 years (pandemic) to improve Hawaii’s archaic government. Infrastructure, tourism, focusing on Residents, cost of housing, climate change, etc. I guess wishful thinking took over, don’t know what came over me.
Aloha!
The fees to visit Hawaii are high enough. My family and I will go somewhere else to vacation. You’re shooting yourselves in the foot.
Tourist won’t come back after the decision of government turning visitors away and locals not being welcomed there!
Why not. Hawaii can be only for the wealthy. More bureaucracy and committees.. less to the people.. it’s the Hawaiian way!!
Sadly, I feel like this is all a scheme to only allow millionaires onto the islands, but the millionaires aren’t the ones who are visiting local places and spending money. This is also just another way to funnel money into another account to support whatever cause they feel like. Green is following Newsoms example and Californians just continue to vote for the same people. There is no accountability, everyone is pretty much double taxed and the cost of living just keeps going up. If Hawaii continues down the trail with Green, it will end up with rich people who spend a small percentage of their time on the islands and poverty for locals who can’t leave. The government works for the people, and the people need to rise up and remind them.
Exactly – never understand why people complain about their government and then vote for the same people/party over and over.
“Elections have consequences” as someone said once.
I became disabled at Makena Beach in Maui. Two years ago I returned to just get back up on the horse once again, but on arrival, there was a new $ 10.00 fee to park my rental car. $ 5.00 walk on the sand fee and another $ 5.00 for the care giver. For $ 20.00 bucks going back to the scene of the injury was no longer worth doing. Not even my disabled parking permit was to be honored. While the parking guard told me that the fee is good for the entire day the water becomes uninviting after 9:00 to 10:00 am. Gov Green until you make allowances for disabled tourists, I’ll find other places to spend my vacation money. By the way I did contribute $ 75.00 to the Maui Humane Society after the fire. But Gov Green you lost my Tourist tax.
Agree
“Low-end” visitors? That reference seems rude to visitors. Added another $50 adds insult to injury, although if the islands need help, the governor needs to figure out a good way to do it and get the money where it needs to go.
The mainland needs to start charging Hawaiian residents a visitor’s fee when people from Hawaii come to Las Vegas, California surfing competitions, and other mainland activities.
I am just amazed at most of the comments.
Every government of any size wastes lots of money.
Hawaii is no different than any other state.
While that may be true, it doesn’t make it OK. It’s the childish excuse “everybody else is doing it”
So 2 or more wrongs make it right??
I am looking forward to traveling back to HI. I will gladly pay $50 to support the islands every time I travel there. HI needs help from visitors.
No there shouldn’t be an extra fee. A trip to Hawaii is already very expensive (Air, Hotel, Food). Would drive tourists to go elsewhere.
With that, any resident traveling off island should pay $50 also! I don’t think it would be legal anyway.
Raising money for fire protection Comes from land owners. The big land owneO9rs and Family Trust need to pay. Kamehameha Schools is not a non profit! There land is never cut to prevent fires.
BOH,
I don’t like paying taxes anymore than the next guy. However, the sales tax here is very low compared to my state of California. In CA it varies by city/town. But, it’s high everywhere. We pay 10.75% Here we are paying 4.712%. How much would a 2% increase raise. And of greater importance: how would it be used/wasted.
That has always been my thought. Hawaii needs to raise their sale tax if they want more money. It’s been 4% as long as I can remember and my first trip was in the 1960’s. As a tourist, I should not be paying taxes to go towards your fire department.
Actually, people also pay that 4% on GE Tax, so raising that would kill some small businesses—there is also an additional surcharge for all islands’ GE Tax payers that supposedly goes to “infrastructure”. It gets harder and harder to survive tax increases. Property Taxes are through the roof! Seniors on a fixed income are struggling to hang on to their homes . Sure, we could sell for big profit, but where would we go?! what will our kids have?
I seriously loved Hawaii and dreamed of returning after I had taken care of Many family members on the mainland..
Back in 1999 it was easy to afford housing and I look now and There’s so many hard working people and they are houseless and never will be homeless because they know how to make a home no matter what happens…so maybe Now the Island will be more interested in the People that work hard for the Islands and the economy will definitely depend on them that Rebuild and Not the Tourist…. Aloha.
especially offended by the governor’s promise to thin out the “low end” tourist by imposing yet another fee / tax . A suggestion might be to tax the hotels “resort fee” to raise money for the state. I fail to see why the rooms are $400 / night and then a ‘resort fee’ of $100 to $400 per week is demanded. Given this looks like a pure money grab … maybe the state should share in this windfall thievery ???? It is very unfortunate that Hawaii has become an elitist destination that normal folk can’t afford and apparently are not welcome !!!
Do you remember when Kauai’s mayor said he didn’t want “coupon clippers” visiting his island, when things were starting to reopen after Covid?
We hate these “resort fees” as they are blatant robbery which have caught on like a wildfire and serve no purpose other than padding patron charges. You pay as a last resort:
“So If you like stay
Then you gotta pay”
Agreed! It’s the “baggage fee” cash-cow of resorts. 💸
When airlines started charging for baggage, it was “just to offset the cost of fuel”. When they learned we would rollover and let that be a permanent source of income, they happily agreed to rip us off forever.
Anytime you hear, “it’s just for a little while”, you’re getting played. 😷
Southwest earns my business (and I flew United exclusivley for more than 30 years), because their business model allows them to make money and not treat me like a sheeple. (Yes, open seating is kind of sheepley, but I just need to get from point A to B safely, so I don’t need reserved seats and separate cabins)
I agree that another fee on visitors is offensive and inappropriate. I do want to point out that resort fees, parking fees, cleaning fees, and any other fees charged by a hotel or owner/manager of a vacation rental (which I am) are subject to the state’s Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) which is 10.25%, the state’s General Excise Tax (GET) which is 4.16%, and on Maui there is an additional county TAT of 3%. So anything I or any hotel charges even if it’s pass on fees like parking and cleaning, is subject to 17.416% taxes. In addition, since my properties are resort zoned areas the property tax rate is about 5 times what it would be for an owner occupied home in a residential neighborhood. My property taxes are now $22,600 per year.
Is Green serious? The state is complaining about low tourism in Maui. Soon , we will have no tourism on all islands. Hawaii is too expensive . Take away the extra salary from city council , check into the fake homeless getting benefits , get them off the beaches . Do somenthing creative before you Green thinks of the $50 increase.
“Hawaii Visitor Fleecing Fee”… I think not. Why would I want to help fund a large slush fund pool of money overseen by the same incompetent green ideologues that largely contributed to the recent fiascoes?
– No State Fire Marshal
– local emergency official-in-charge off island with no back-up
– local water department official more interested in water equity that preventing property damage and loss of life
– local utility spent more money on equity programs than fire abatement programs
– no breakdown of how climate change actually caused this specific problem or what collected money could do to actually change climate in the future
This scheme for funding likely perpetuates failure without/ before critical assessments are made
Can someone please provide the definition/description of “low-end visitors” the fee would discourage from visiting Hawaii? I’m asking because I don’t want to assume.
I looked and did google search on What is a low end tourist. It just came up with low end package. In this is said low price,cheap, people who can’t afford much package. Just hotel and airfare package it used as an example.
The government in Hawaii is incompetent and corrupt. What happens to all the taxes they already collect. I have been going to Maui since 2008 and in all that time I have seen zero evidence the government has improved anything.
The money will Never go to firefighting, other than a few token bucks to make it appear that the money is being used wisely. Hawaii is perhaps the only state run more incompetently than my own state of California. Remember the horrid wildfires about 10 years ago? The state had several hundred million in accounts for fire prevention, reservoirs, and new firefighting equipment but failed to spend any of it. After the fires they instituted a $100+ tax on residents in alleged brushfire zones. As one who had to pay this illegal tax (it was eventually ruled illegal), I still get upset just thinking about it. In the end it was nothing but a revenue grab. Hawaii is no different.
It appears that the state government is determined to impose this tax and will say anything to do it. It could bring them a lot of money and that’s all they see. When government keeps pushing a tax but keeps changing the reason for it, you can bet that it will be one more slush fund.
So, he and all of the other leaders screwed up when they told visitors to stay away so Now the mantra is please come back and cough up another $50 fee just for the privilege! Talk about a state government with their house completely out of order! At this point I have only one more trip to Maui for my late friend’s COL and that will be it for all of Hawaii! 37 trips and countless 10’s of thousands spent in Hawaii but that’s it for me.
Frankly, we don’t have a problem with paying the $50 fee.
The state doesn’t really have a manufacturing base
or a resource extraction base large enough to generate
significant wealth or government revenue.
Hawaii is highly dependent on tourism and federal spending.
Comparing Hawaii’s high tourism related taxes to other states
is comparing apples and oranges
As a CA resident and a timeshare holder on Maui and Kauai, I love and appreciate the Islands, it’s people and the “Aloha” spirit. And I love reading your newsletter. It’s nice to get an up to date and fairly unbiased (or not quite, but they do align with mine) info.
I understand the need to raise money, but as it stand all visitors are paying enough on Taxes alone, not to mention how much we spend visiting the Islands. For a State that relies on mainly Tourism for it’s economy, adding another fee or Tax will just prevent another reason not to visit.
May be on Maui the beach fees should be waved to encourage visitors. The road to Hana black beach opened again without reservations still a parking fee I didn’t not have a problem paying for parking but the fees are too much b
Wow, they never miss an opportunity to tax. Any tragedy or mishap it’s the go to move. As was mentioned where’s all the money go? Where’s the audits? Accounting? Like Social Security almost 14 Percent of every dollar earned goes in but somehow, we are broke? I imagine if you took 14 percent of every dollar you earned for 40 years and just put it in treasuries how much would you have? More than the $1500 month average that’s paid out.
Residents of Hawaii need to demand accountability of where the bucket loads of tourist dollars are going. Another $50 to the already multiple taxes charged to visitors is nothing more than another ‘stick it to them’ money grab. For someone that comes for a 2 month stay every year and drops over $25,000 each visit, I’m somewhat, a little offended to be termed a “low-end” visitor.
Once again I am deeply disappointed in the state of Hawaii’s new Green Tax communication strategy to , “reduce the quantity of Hawaii’s “low-end” visitors”. Thanks for that. Coupled with the the misappropriation of funds when the tax is collected. Again, very disappointed.
Mahalo
If implemented, this money will disappear into the General fund, never to be seen again.
Hawaii’s problem is not a lack of tax revenue – It’s the lack of effective government. An additional tax won’t correct that problem.
I’m amazed that the citizens of Hawaii haven’t demanded a full forensic audit of where their tax dollars have gone. The results of such an audit would be enlightening.
As a part time resident, I don’t get to vote, but if the same people keep getting elected, nothing will change. The future of Hawaii is in the hands of her citizens at the ballot box.
Gomer Pyle said it best: “Suprize, Suprize, Suprize”
Oh boy….There’s gonna be some outrage and screaming on this one!
We own three weeks time share on Oahu. Over the years it has become more and more expensive to visit our favorite place on earth and our unit. We are retired with limited resources.
So frustrated with Governor Green and his typical solution to everything. Tax, tax, tax, and tax.
Hawaii needs to welcome tourists back with open arms and not by another tax. If anything you need to lower these taxes and get the tourists back. The tourists should not be asked to pay more because of the fire. Hawaii is receiving help and money for that from the Federal Govt.
Really your 2 billion dollar a year visitors aren’t enough, talk about Greed , shame on you ………
Meet the new fee.
Same as the old fee.
Maybe it’s time to have a casino or 2. Money that goes to Las Vegas and other places can stay on the islands.
Casinos will bring jobs for the island as well!
State Lotto!!! Casinos will never happen and most folks do not want that here, but a LOTTO is something the people have been asking for! The Legislators keep shutting the idea down…..using ideas such as the recipients of welfare will squander their payments on tickets. One ticket is a couple of bucks—