In reading the ridiculous written testimony from tourism advocates opposing the three percent, my question is, have they no shame?!
Tourism has historically failed to pay for its true impacts to our environment and community. Three percent is just a start in a multitude of ways tourism must be taxed and managed.
Please tax tourism to adequately compensate for impacts and to appropriately serve our residents’ needs.
The issue of how much the County Transient accommodations tax should be and how it should be collected are both complex questions requiring careful consideration of the consequences of both these issues. The proposed legislation is premature and should not be passed out of committee.
I also would like the Committee to consider whether the State bill allows the County to assess this new tax on time share use? currently time shares pay a transient OCCUPANCY tax, that is similar to the transient accommodations tax, but is based on a different metric.
Good afternoon Chair and members,
In reading the ridiculous written testimony from tourism advocates opposing the three percent, my question is, have they no shame?!
Tourism has historically failed to pay for its true impacts to our environment and community. Three percent is just a start in a multitude of ways tourism must be taxed and managed.
Please tax tourism to adequately compensate for impacts and to appropriately serve our residents’ needs.
~Kai Nishiki
The issue of how much the County Transient accommodations tax should be and how it should be collected are both complex questions requiring careful consideration of the consequences of both these issues. The proposed legislation is premature and should not be passed out of committee.
I also would like the Committee to consider whether the State bill allows the County to assess this new tax on time share use? currently time shares pay a transient OCCUPANCY tax, that is similar to the transient accommodations tax, but is based on a different metric.
Testimony of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association in opposition to BFED-52.
Testimony attached.