Government needs to do everything they can to protect and preserve the dignity of the Native Hawaiian community by supporting agendas that are intended to make their lives better and always have their interest first and foremost
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
My ʻohana and I are in support of this bill. Giving Hawaiians tax relief for their kuleana properties is crucial. I know of a few Maui kuleana tenants who are being taxed out of their land because of gentrification. In Makena (and other places on Maui), kuleana land taxes are so high because of high end properties around them. Help them keep their ʻaina by allowing them to be exempt from land tax. Mahalo!
Aloha kākou, I fully support this legislation.
ʻOhana who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
Mahalo,
Kelley L. Uyeoka
1. Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
2. The County has already seen the importance of providing kuleana parcels held by lineal descendants with a Kuleana Property Tax exemption, to prevent the further loss of Hawaiian lands from Hawaiian hands. This bill would extend this exemption to provide appropriate protection for government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act of 1850, which were set aside to provide Hawaiian Kingdom subjects and native tenants with an alternative way to acquire sufficient land to support themselves and their ʻohana, and perpetuate the lifestyles and values that had sustained them since time immemorial.
3. Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
4. The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha.
5. Real estate speculation and investment have led to skyrocketing property values, which has led to significantly increased county tax revenues from off-island investors. Unfortunately, this has also led to increasing property taxes being levied on long-time kamaʻāina families, including Native Hawaiian and other families who have held onto their family lands since the Kuleana Act, and who for generations have helped to perpetuate the values and ways of life that define Maui countyʻs unique communities. This bill will enable the county to protect more of these ʻohana from escalating property taxes, without compromising its ability to generate tax revenues from real estate speculators and investors.
Strongly support this smart legislation that will address the insane tax prices that alienate families and descendants with deep roots in Maui from continuing to live in their homelands. Mahalo for this legislation!
I strongly support Kuleana Property Tax Exemptions. Native Hawaiians should never be taxed off their own homelands. Especially not as a result of land-grabs and speculation by off-island investors. This bill provides a critical step to ensuring Maui families can stay on Maui, and to protecting their legacy.
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
The County has already seen the importance of providing kuleana parcels held by lineal descendants with a Kuleana Property Tax exemption, to prevent the further loss of Hawaiian lands from Hawaiian hands. This bill would extend this exemption to provide appropriate protection for government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act of 1850, which were set aside to provide Hawaiian Kingdom subjects and native tenants with an alternative way to acquire sufficient land to support themselves and their ʻohana, and perpetuate the lifestyles and values that had sustained them since time immemorial.
Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha.
Real estate speculation and investment have led to skyrocketing property values, which has led to significantly increased county tax revenues from off-island investors. Unfortunately, this has also led to increasing property taxes being levied on long-time kamaʻāina families, including Native Hawaiian and other families who have held onto their family lands since the Kuleana Act, and who for generations have helped to perpetuate the values and ways of life that define Maui countyʻs unique communities. This bill will enable the county to protect more of these ʻohana from escalating property taxes, without compromising its ability to generate tax revenues from real estate speculators and investors.
Aloha Chair Rawlins-Fernandez, Vice Chair Paltin, and Members of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee,
Mahalo for hearing this most important matter. On behalf of my family, we strongly and wholeheartedly support the bill proposed in BFED-80, which would expand Mauiʻs Kuleana Property Tax Exemption to explicitly include government grant lands held by lineal descendants of the original purchasers, and other land ownership strategies that Hawaiian families have used to retain their ohana lands. In 1853, through a land grant, my ancestor Stephen Grant was awarded two small adjacent ahupuaʻa - Paakea and Puakea in Nahiku, Koʻolau, Maui. (Land Commission Award 209, and Royal Patent 1117). He left these two small ahupuaʻa to his Native Hawaiian daughter, and these lands were home to our family for generations. My great grandma who I had the privilege of knowing and learning from before she passed, spent her early childhood years on this family ʻāina being raised by her grandparents there. My kupuna were the stewards of this land, and by necessity due to its remote location, had to be the stewards of its fishery, freshwaters, food growing lands, and forests.
Over the years, our large Hawaiian family has grown significantly and there are now many many owners with partial interests in the property. The taxes are overwhelming and we have lost ownership one of the two ahupuaʻa, and the mauka portion of the remaining ahupuaʻa. (We are still researching how and why those portions of our family land are no longer family owned.) The taxes on the remaining family land have been too high for anyone in the family to pay. With great sadness, in 2014, the older generation with the most ownership in the property could no longer pay the property taxes. The taxes currently owed total $40,789.14 as of today. The land is undeveloped aside from a barely visible house platform from the 1800s and agricultural terracing. Nobody in the family lives there now, as it is hard to invest in being present on the land and caring for the land with the looming threat that it could be sold at County foreclosure auction. Any improvements that we might want to make on the land would then increase outside interest from potential foreclosure auction bidders. We still visit the property, which has native forest remaining in certain areas, a stream running along one boundary to the ocean, and fruit trees and ti leaf that my kupuna planted over a hundred years ago.
Since the two ahupuaʻa came into our family through a land grant, we have not qualified for the Kuleana Act tax exemption. However, our tie to the land is very much the same as it is for kuleana claimants. It is my true hope that this land will be able to stay within our ʻohana, and that my kids and their kids, grandkids and all future generations will be able to spend time on this land, swim in the stream, care for the forest, and fish in the ocean just as their kupuna once did. I worry that without this land remaining in the family, our ties to not only the land, but to one another, our kupuna who have passed, and our very identity will be broken.
Though our ʻohana situation is rather straight forward with a land grant directly to our ancestor and a currently undeveloped property, I also support expanding the Kuleana exemption to provide relief for ʻohana who have had to put their properties into LLCs and other ownership structures in order to retain them, and ʻohana who have been forced to use their property for commercial uses just to pay the property taxes and not lose their property to foreclosure auction. Relief is needed now. If ʻohana such as ours are supported in retaining their ʻohana lands, the whole community will benefit because it is the longtime ʻohana who carry with them the history and stories of every community. It is these families who can share the community culture, who remember the cultural sites and protocol, who know practical historic knowledge such as how the water flows in floods, and who can guide the current generations on how to understand and care for the lands in the whole community.
Mahalo piha,
Laura H. E. Kaakua
Daughter of Maile Kaluhea Scanlan, Granddaughter of Annette Healani Won Scanlan, Great Granddaughter of Maria Victoria (Nena) Li Won (raised in her early years by her grandparents on our family lands), Great Great Granddaughter of Anna Hooulu (born on our family lands) and Kia Seong Li, and Great Great Great Granddaughter of Anna Loika Alo and Boniface Achong (who lived and raised their family on our family lands), Great x4 Granddaughter of Victoria Maria Grant (who the aina passed to from her father Stephen) and Francis Chang Achong, Great x5 Granddaughter of Catherine Aa and Stephen Grant (land grant awardee).
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
Aloha mai kākou,
The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha. Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
Please preserve the legacy of "aloha ʻāina" of our kūpuna.
Me ke aloha,
N. Uʻilani Barrett-Tau
A letter of resounding support for the Kuleana Tax Exemption. I am grateful to the Maui County Council for recognizing the invaluable connection between these Maui families and the places they have tended and nurtured as part of their ʻohana for generations. I applaud the excellent mark of leadership that recognizes imbalance in a complicated system and has the courage to offer potential solutions that look out for the wellbeing of all on Maui - including ʻōiwi and the environment. Thank you for offering a solution that centers and values generations-long connection to kuleana lands. I am hopeful for the kuleana land owners on Maui, and for those across our paeʻāina. Ola!
Testimony of Francille Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder
County of Maui
August 3,2021
Aloha Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee Chair Keani N.W. Rawlins-Fernandez, and Members. My name is Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder. I am testifying on agenda item Kuleana Lands Exemptions (BFED-80) and request for review of an amendment to Maui County Code 3.48.554. I support the intent and purpose of this bill and those who have been part of the collaboration.
Listed below are some considerations and suggestions I would like this committee to consider.
D.2 - I support the language.
A.2 and E.2 - Please consider lineal descendant properties designated as Kuleana land or Kuleana Act government grant land that have been forced to use their property for commercial purposes in order to pay for the real property tax that are beyond their financial means. These types of uses may include and are not limited to vacation rentals, bed and breakfast homes, and weddings. Perhaps further detailed information of tax delinquency by lineal descendants may need to be provided.
E.5 - Kuleana Act Government Grant Land defined and made specific so that it benefits only the native tenants and not plantation owners and their heirs. For example, I am a landowner and lineal descendant of Moses Kahiapo living on Grant 226 that was schemingly purchased by William “Little” Lee who was a Land Commissioner during the time of the Great Mahele. The native tenants who fished and farmed on those lands continued to live there during the reorganization of land tenure of the indigenous land system. Upon his death, he granted the lands in Grant 226 to Catherine Lee Youmans. It was Ms. Catherine Youmans returned the lands to the native tenants who continued to fish and farm in Paʻuwela. They are known as the Paʻuwela Hui who live in Kahiapo Village/Camp. I was denied Kuleana exemption by OHA because of the exchange of lands done by William “Little” Lee.
In conversation with some of my family members. I support the “Circuit Tax Breaker” and implement the “ ʻĀina Kupuna Tax Relief ” program. I would hope that those who are presently on the “Circuit Tax Breaker” and qualify for the ʻĀina Kupuna Tax Relief” program do not have to apply on a yearly basis. This credit will continue during the lifespan of the applicant. At any time should the applicant transfer title to a lineal descendant without a break in title. The same credit will apply.
Mahalo nui,
Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder
Kuloloiʻa Lineage: I Ke Kai o Kuloloia
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) SUPPORTS the bill proposed in BFED-80, which would provide much-needed tax protections for an additional category of ancestral lands acquired under the provisions of the Kuleana Act of 1850, and held within the same ‘ohana since their original acquisition pursuant to the Act. Applying the county’s Kuleana Property Tax Exemption to “government grants” purchased under the Act would be consistent with and further the intent of both the Act as well as that of the Exemption, to enable Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana to maintain ownership of and connection with their ancestral lands, and thereby avoid exacerbating the unique and deep harms resulting from the historical and ongoing severance of Native Hawaiians and others from the ʻāina.
As a preliminary matter, OHA emphasizes that the Westernization of land tenure in Hawaiʻi, and the distribution of land and power that occurred subsequent to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, have had profound and unique impacts on the Native Hawaiian people. Such impacts include the physical, spiritual, and socieoeconomic harms arising from the dispossession of Native Hawaiians’ ancestral lands, and from the myriad other circumstances that have strained or eroded away Native Hawaiians’ connection to the ʻāina that have sustained their ʻohana since time immemorial. Sadly, much of the lands that Native Hawaiians were able to acquire during Hawaiʻi’s transition to a Western property system have already been lost, abandoned, sold, seized, or stolen, and various factors today continue to place great strain on the ability of Native Hawaiian families to continue maintaining a connection to, and ownership of, their ancestral ʻāina.
OHA accordingly strongly supports the proposal in BFED-80, which will provide critical relief to the few remaining Native Hawaiian and other families who have maintained their family lands since their acquisition under the Kuleana Act, and whose ability to continue holding onto their lands may be placed under ever increasing strain due to exorbitant, speculation-driven tax increases. The Kuleana Act of 1850, as amended, sought to provide a way for native tenants, or makaʻāinana, to claim title to lands that they had occupied and cultivated (known as “kuleana”), or to purchase government lands if they were not “otherwise furnished with sufficient lands” (known as “government grant lands”). As part of the Mahele process, the Act was therefore a major means by which Native Hawaiians were able to obtain title to land during Hawaiʻi’s transition to a Western property framework. Unfortunately, over time, many of the kuleana and government grants issued under the Act were lost by their original owners or their descendants. To prevent the further loss of the few remaining parcels of land acquired under the Kuleana Act that have been maintained by the same ʻohana since the Mahele, the County of Maui, like every other county in Hawaiʻi, has already adopted tax policies that protect kuleana parcels from escalating property taxes. However, these tax policies are not clearly applicable to government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act. This measure will therefore provide much-needed relief to ancestral lands that were acquired under the government grant provision of the Kuleana Act, and that have been maintained in the same ʻohana since their original acquisition, commensurate with the existing tax relief provided for ancestral kuleana that were acquired under the Act.
With respect to the proposed retroactive application of the Kuleana Property Tax Exemption provisions, OHA notes that the process of establishing eligibility for the exemption requires lineal descendancy and land title information that may take a significant amount of time and money for applicants to acquire. Accordingly, property taxes may have been levied on lands that would have received a property tax exemption, but for the significant burden of proof that may take months or even years for applicants to satisfy. OHA therefore believes that a retroactive application of the Kuleana Property Tax Exemption as proposed may be appropriate to reduce the strain that escalating property taxes may have placed on the ability of ‘ohana to maintain their ancestral lands, notwithstanding county tax policies that would have otherwise provided them with significant tax relief.
Accordingly, OHA respectfully urges the Committee to recommend the Council PASS the tax relief proposals contained in BFED-80. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
(note: a pdf of this testimony will be e-mailed to the Committee chair).
Government needs to do everything they can to protect and preserve the dignity of the Native Hawaiian community by supporting agendas that are intended to make their lives better and always have their interest first and foremost
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
My ʻohana and I are in support of this bill. Giving Hawaiians tax relief for their kuleana properties is crucial. I know of a few Maui kuleana tenants who are being taxed out of their land because of gentrification. In Makena (and other places on Maui), kuleana land taxes are so high because of high end properties around them. Help them keep their ʻaina by allowing them to be exempt from land tax. Mahalo!
Strongly support. Mahalo for your leadership on helping our long time families maintain connection to their family lands.
Jocelyn Doane
Important tax relief for residents. Strongly support
Aloha kākou, I fully support this legislation.
ʻOhana who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
Mahalo,
Kelley L. Uyeoka
I support.
Sharde Freitas
Kuleana land owners should not be taxed off their land. I support the tax exemption. --Kelsey Amos
I strongly support this legislation.
1. Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
2. The County has already seen the importance of providing kuleana parcels held by lineal descendants with a Kuleana Property Tax exemption, to prevent the further loss of Hawaiian lands from Hawaiian hands. This bill would extend this exemption to provide appropriate protection for government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act of 1850, which were set aside to provide Hawaiian Kingdom subjects and native tenants with an alternative way to acquire sufficient land to support themselves and their ʻohana, and perpetuate the lifestyles and values that had sustained them since time immemorial.
3. Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
4. The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha.
5. Real estate speculation and investment have led to skyrocketing property values, which has led to significantly increased county tax revenues from off-island investors. Unfortunately, this has also led to increasing property taxes being levied on long-time kamaʻāina families, including Native Hawaiian and other families who have held onto their family lands since the Kuleana Act, and who for generations have helped to perpetuate the values and ways of life that define Maui countyʻs unique communities. This bill will enable the county to protect more of these ʻohana from escalating property taxes, without compromising its ability to generate tax revenues from real estate speculators and investors.
Strongly support this smart legislation that will address the insane tax prices that alienate families and descendants with deep roots in Maui from continuing to live in their homelands. Mahalo for this legislation!
I strongly support Kuleana Property Tax Exemptions. Native Hawaiians should never be taxed off their own homelands. Especially not as a result of land-grabs and speculation by off-island investors. This bill provides a critical step to ensuring Maui families can stay on Maui, and to protecting their legacy.
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
The County has already seen the importance of providing kuleana parcels held by lineal descendants with a Kuleana Property Tax exemption, to prevent the further loss of Hawaiian lands from Hawaiian hands. This bill would extend this exemption to provide appropriate protection for government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act of 1850, which were set aside to provide Hawaiian Kingdom subjects and native tenants with an alternative way to acquire sufficient land to support themselves and their ʻohana, and perpetuate the lifestyles and values that had sustained them since time immemorial.
Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha.
Real estate speculation and investment have led to skyrocketing property values, which has led to significantly increased county tax revenues from off-island investors. Unfortunately, this has also led to increasing property taxes being levied on long-time kamaʻāina families, including Native Hawaiian and other families who have held onto their family lands since the Kuleana Act, and who for generations have helped to perpetuate the values and ways of life that define Maui countyʻs unique communities. This bill will enable the county to protect more of these ʻohana from escalating property taxes, without compromising its ability to generate tax revenues from real estate speculators and investors.
Fully support this effort, mahalo nui e Councilmember Keani for introducing this important measure! Keep Hawaiian Lands in Hawaiian Hands!
Aloha Chair Rawlins-Fernandez, Vice Chair Paltin, and Members of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee,
Mahalo for hearing this most important matter. On behalf of my family, we strongly and wholeheartedly support the bill proposed in BFED-80, which would expand Mauiʻs Kuleana Property Tax Exemption to explicitly include government grant lands held by lineal descendants of the original purchasers, and other land ownership strategies that Hawaiian families have used to retain their ohana lands. In 1853, through a land grant, my ancestor Stephen Grant was awarded two small adjacent ahupuaʻa - Paakea and Puakea in Nahiku, Koʻolau, Maui. (Land Commission Award 209, and Royal Patent 1117). He left these two small ahupuaʻa to his Native Hawaiian daughter, and these lands were home to our family for generations. My great grandma who I had the privilege of knowing and learning from before she passed, spent her early childhood years on this family ʻāina being raised by her grandparents there. My kupuna were the stewards of this land, and by necessity due to its remote location, had to be the stewards of its fishery, freshwaters, food growing lands, and forests.
Over the years, our large Hawaiian family has grown significantly and there are now many many owners with partial interests in the property. The taxes are overwhelming and we have lost ownership one of the two ahupuaʻa, and the mauka portion of the remaining ahupuaʻa. (We are still researching how and why those portions of our family land are no longer family owned.) The taxes on the remaining family land have been too high for anyone in the family to pay. With great sadness, in 2014, the older generation with the most ownership in the property could no longer pay the property taxes. The taxes currently owed total $40,789.14 as of today. The land is undeveloped aside from a barely visible house platform from the 1800s and agricultural terracing. Nobody in the family lives there now, as it is hard to invest in being present on the land and caring for the land with the looming threat that it could be sold at County foreclosure auction. Any improvements that we might want to make on the land would then increase outside interest from potential foreclosure auction bidders. We still visit the property, which has native forest remaining in certain areas, a stream running along one boundary to the ocean, and fruit trees and ti leaf that my kupuna planted over a hundred years ago.
Since the two ahupuaʻa came into our family through a land grant, we have not qualified for the Kuleana Act tax exemption. However, our tie to the land is very much the same as it is for kuleana claimants. It is my true hope that this land will be able to stay within our ʻohana, and that my kids and their kids, grandkids and all future generations will be able to spend time on this land, swim in the stream, care for the forest, and fish in the ocean just as their kupuna once did. I worry that without this land remaining in the family, our ties to not only the land, but to one another, our kupuna who have passed, and our very identity will be broken.
Though our ʻohana situation is rather straight forward with a land grant directly to our ancestor and a currently undeveloped property, I also support expanding the Kuleana exemption to provide relief for ʻohana who have had to put their properties into LLCs and other ownership structures in order to retain them, and ʻohana who have been forced to use their property for commercial uses just to pay the property taxes and not lose their property to foreclosure auction. Relief is needed now. If ʻohana such as ours are supported in retaining their ʻohana lands, the whole community will benefit because it is the longtime ʻohana who carry with them the history and stories of every community. It is these families who can share the community culture, who remember the cultural sites and protocol, who know practical historic knowledge such as how the water flows in floods, and who can guide the current generations on how to understand and care for the lands in the whole community.
Mahalo piha,
Laura H. E. Kaakua
Daughter of Maile Kaluhea Scanlan, Granddaughter of Annette Healani Won Scanlan, Great Granddaughter of Maria Victoria (Nena) Li Won (raised in her early years by her grandparents on our family lands), Great Great Granddaughter of Anna Hooulu (born on our family lands) and Kia Seong Li, and Great Great Great Granddaughter of Anna Loika Alo and Boniface Achong (who lived and raised their family on our family lands), Great x4 Granddaughter of Victoria Maria Grant (who the aina passed to from her father Stephen) and Francis Chang Achong, Great x5 Granddaughter of Catherine Aa and Stephen Grant (land grant awardee).
Families who have been able to maintain their ancestral lands since the Mahele represent a foundation of Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and help to maintain important connections to the past and to the ʻāina that have informed, and continue to inform, Mauiʻs social fabric and unique community values. The tax relief provided for in this measure will help more of these families hold on to their ʻohana lands, especially amidst global real estate speculation, skyrocketing property values, and resulting property tax assessments that may exceed what many can afford. Accordingly, this measure will help to perpetuate Mauiʻs historical and cultural legacy, and preserve that which has helped to make Maui and all of Hawaiʻi such a unique and special place to live.
Aloha mai kākou,
The dispossession of land has deep, profound, and unique impacts on Native Hawaiians, whose health and well-being are based on their feelings for and deep attachment to the ʻāina. Other kamaʻāina who have maintained their family lands since the Mahele are likely to have also developed a deep, familial attachment to their lands that would be devastating to lose. While this bill cannot return ancestral lands that have already been lost, it will provide critical tax protections for the few Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana who, despite all the changes and pressures of the last century and a half, have been able to hold onto their ancestral lands since the Kuleana Act, and who may now be facing ever-increasing tax assessments that may eventually lead to the loss of their ʻāina aloha. Land grabs and speculation by off-island investors should never lead to long-time kamaʻāina families being taxed into poverty or off of their ancestral lands, and especially those families who have maintained their ʻāina kūpuna since the Mahele. This bill provides a critical and highly appropriate step to protect more of Mauiʻs families and the legacy they represent, from property tax increases due to forces well beyond their control.
Please preserve the legacy of "aloha ʻāina" of our kūpuna.
Me ke aloha,
N. Uʻilani Barrett-Tau
A letter of resounding support for the Kuleana Tax Exemption. I am grateful to the Maui County Council for recognizing the invaluable connection between these Maui families and the places they have tended and nurtured as part of their ʻohana for generations. I applaud the excellent mark of leadership that recognizes imbalance in a complicated system and has the courage to offer potential solutions that look out for the wellbeing of all on Maui - including ʻōiwi and the environment. Thank you for offering a solution that centers and values generations-long connection to kuleana lands. I am hopeful for the kuleana land owners on Maui, and for those across our paeʻāina. Ola!
Testimony of Francille Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder
County of Maui
August 3,2021
Aloha Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee Chair Keani N.W. Rawlins-Fernandez, and Members. My name is Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder. I am testifying on agenda item Kuleana Lands Exemptions (BFED-80) and request for review of an amendment to Maui County Code 3.48.554. I support the intent and purpose of this bill and those who have been part of the collaboration.
Listed below are some considerations and suggestions I would like this committee to consider.
D.2 - I support the language.
A.2 and E.2 - Please consider lineal descendant properties designated as Kuleana land or Kuleana Act government grant land that have been forced to use their property for commercial purposes in order to pay for the real property tax that are beyond their financial means. These types of uses may include and are not limited to vacation rentals, bed and breakfast homes, and weddings. Perhaps further detailed information of tax delinquency by lineal descendants may need to be provided.
E.5 - Kuleana Act Government Grant Land defined and made specific so that it benefits only the native tenants and not plantation owners and their heirs. For example, I am a landowner and lineal descendant of Moses Kahiapo living on Grant 226 that was schemingly purchased by William “Little” Lee who was a Land Commissioner during the time of the Great Mahele. The native tenants who fished and farmed on those lands continued to live there during the reorganization of land tenure of the indigenous land system. Upon his death, he granted the lands in Grant 226 to Catherine Lee Youmans. It was Ms. Catherine Youmans returned the lands to the native tenants who continued to fish and farm in Paʻuwela. They are known as the Paʻuwela Hui who live in Kahiapo Village/Camp. I was denied Kuleana exemption by OHA because of the exchange of lands done by William “Little” Lee.
In conversation with some of my family members. I support the “Circuit Tax Breaker” and implement the “ ʻĀina Kupuna Tax Relief ” program. I would hope that those who are presently on the “Circuit Tax Breaker” and qualify for the ʻĀina Kupuna Tax Relief” program do not have to apply on a yearly basis. This credit will continue during the lifespan of the applicant. At any time should the applicant transfer title to a lineal descendant without a break in title. The same credit will apply.
Mahalo nui,
Leināʻala Kuloloio Vedder
Kuloloiʻa Lineage: I Ke Kai o Kuloloia
(a pdf copy was sent to BFEDC chair)
I strongly support this bill.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) SUPPORTS the bill proposed in BFED-80, which would provide much-needed tax protections for an additional category of ancestral lands acquired under the provisions of the Kuleana Act of 1850, and held within the same ‘ohana since their original acquisition pursuant to the Act. Applying the county’s Kuleana Property Tax Exemption to “government grants” purchased under the Act would be consistent with and further the intent of both the Act as well as that of the Exemption, to enable Native Hawaiian and other ʻohana to maintain ownership of and connection with their ancestral lands, and thereby avoid exacerbating the unique and deep harms resulting from the historical and ongoing severance of Native Hawaiians and others from the ʻāina.
As a preliminary matter, OHA emphasizes that the Westernization of land tenure in Hawaiʻi, and the distribution of land and power that occurred subsequent to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, have had profound and unique impacts on the Native Hawaiian people. Such impacts include the physical, spiritual, and socieoeconomic harms arising from the dispossession of Native Hawaiians’ ancestral lands, and from the myriad other circumstances that have strained or eroded away Native Hawaiians’ connection to the ʻāina that have sustained their ʻohana since time immemorial. Sadly, much of the lands that Native Hawaiians were able to acquire during Hawaiʻi’s transition to a Western property system have already been lost, abandoned, sold, seized, or stolen, and various factors today continue to place great strain on the ability of Native Hawaiian families to continue maintaining a connection to, and ownership of, their ancestral ʻāina.
OHA accordingly strongly supports the proposal in BFED-80, which will provide critical relief to the few remaining Native Hawaiian and other families who have maintained their family lands since their acquisition under the Kuleana Act, and whose ability to continue holding onto their lands may be placed under ever increasing strain due to exorbitant, speculation-driven tax increases. The Kuleana Act of 1850, as amended, sought to provide a way for native tenants, or makaʻāinana, to claim title to lands that they had occupied and cultivated (known as “kuleana”), or to purchase government lands if they were not “otherwise furnished with sufficient lands” (known as “government grant lands”). As part of the Mahele process, the Act was therefore a major means by which Native Hawaiians were able to obtain title to land during Hawaiʻi’s transition to a Western property framework. Unfortunately, over time, many of the kuleana and government grants issued under the Act were lost by their original owners or their descendants. To prevent the further loss of the few remaining parcels of land acquired under the Kuleana Act that have been maintained by the same ʻohana since the Mahele, the County of Maui, like every other county in Hawaiʻi, has already adopted tax policies that protect kuleana parcels from escalating property taxes. However, these tax policies are not clearly applicable to government grant lands also acquired under the Kuleana Act. This measure will therefore provide much-needed relief to ancestral lands that were acquired under the government grant provision of the Kuleana Act, and that have been maintained in the same ʻohana since their original acquisition, commensurate with the existing tax relief provided for ancestral kuleana that were acquired under the Act.
With respect to the proposed retroactive application of the Kuleana Property Tax Exemption provisions, OHA notes that the process of establishing eligibility for the exemption requires lineal descendancy and land title information that may take a significant amount of time and money for applicants to acquire. Accordingly, property taxes may have been levied on lands that would have received a property tax exemption, but for the significant burden of proof that may take months or even years for applicants to satisfy. OHA therefore believes that a retroactive application of the Kuleana Property Tax Exemption as proposed may be appropriate to reduce the strain that escalating property taxes may have placed on the ability of ‘ohana to maintain their ancestral lands, notwithstanding county tax policies that would have otherwise provided them with significant tax relief.
Accordingly, OHA respectfully urges the Committee to recommend the Council PASS the tax relief proposals contained in BFED-80. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
(note: a pdf of this testimony will be e-mailed to the Committee chair).