Governor Neil Abercrombie has proposed a bill to increase the hotel room tax to 11.25 percent starting in July 2013. Currently the hotel room tax is 9.25 percent, but this was supposed to be a temporary increase to help the state solve its budget deficit that was caused by the recession. The current tax of 9.25 percent was supposed to expire on July 2015 and revert back to its previous level of 7.25 percent. According to the governor’s office, the tax increase would be used to help maintain Hawaii’s tourism infrastructure and marketing brand. According to the state Department of Taxation, the hotel room tax generated a total of $323.9 million during the last fiscal year under the 9.25 percent transient accommodation tax level.
However, there are many tourism industry experts and leaders who are very concerned with the governor’s room tax increase proposal. Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association President and CEO, George Szigeti, argued, “We’re going to get to the point of what I like to think of as diminishing returns, where you get to that price point, and that visitor on the mainland or anywhere else is going to look at Hawaii and say, ‘Here’s my threshold.’ It’s something we need to be very, very careful of. And we’re getting to that point and I just think you can’t recklessly and all of sudden, because things are good right now, tack on additional taxes on the visitor.”
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 1-31-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
