My name is Lindsay Ginest and I run a camper van business here on the island called Suite Vans Maui. I am in support of TAT applying to these types of businesses along with capping the permits and licenses required to own this type of business.
The large issue at hand is camper vans, tourists, homeless, etc camping anywhere they please which is affecting the community.
-The biggest supplier for this issue is those vehicles that are not registered, licensed, insured, or paying taxes all together. These illegal businesses have multiple vehicles in their fleets, advertise on the largest platform Outdoorsy, and don't pay a single tax or report income.
-The next largest supplier for this issue is the companies that are licensed and registered, however they allow guests/tourists to beach camp anywhere they please because the current law actually allows it.
A simple way to eliminate those who are not registered or permitted would be to require the same registration process on Outdoorsy.com that was applied at the beginning of 2022 for Airbnb, Expedia, etc.
-Requiring a GE, TAT, and potentially an up to date RV-3 Tax Return on Outdoorsy.com would eliminate the largest advertising platform for illegal companies.
Clearly the current Maui county law about camping should be amended, there are companies supplying a fishing pole in their vehicles and allowing tourists to slip through a legal loophole to camp anywhere. This is out of date, not working, and is affecting the community. I am here stating that I own a camper van company and it should be illegal for tourists to camp on the beach. Requiring a Hawaiian ID or being of Hawaiian decent should be necessary to camp outside of designated areas and that should simply be the law. This would eliminate the companies that are not taking Maui into consideration while earning their profit, which is easily possible to do while also doing the right thing.
The final thing I will state is that current companies paying RV-2/RV-3 tax don't have a way of being held accountable / audited. There could be an algorithm put in place taking into account the average nightly rate of companies along with the income they report each year which would determine the outliers that are not submitting an accurate rental motor vehicle surcharge tax.
Changes need to be made, caps need to put in place, TAT should be implemented on all who are running this type of business, laws need to be amended, and companies need to be held accountable for what is being financially reported.
Mahalo for your time.
Owner of Suite Vans Maui
Lindsay Ginest
Aloha Committee Chair Paltin, Committee Vice-Chair King, and Committee Members,
I am submitting the following testimony on behalf of the REALTORS Association of Maui and our 1,900+ members. The REALTORS Association of Maui remains “Neutral” on the issue overall, but we are in strong support of changes to the legislative proposal that were put forth during the March 17th, 2022, PSLU Committee meeting.
Specifically, we strongly agree with the addition of language that explicitly states that properties “allowed to be used for transient vacation rental use” will maintain that ability, even if they are not currently being used as such. This will ensure that vested property rights are acknowledged and protected, and we hope the committee adopts that language. Similarly, we support the removal of unit counts, so long as properties with a vested right to rent are clearly protected under the law.
Mahalo,
Jason A. Economou
Government Affairs Director
REALTORS Association of Maui
My name is Amber Mueller and I am writing in regards to the news article today considering banning campervan rentals. I am a nurse at the hospital and have a great love and respect for the island. My husband and I have three little keiki and we recently purchased one campervan that we had built specifically for our business plan, that we are about to start renting. It is here on Maui, but we have not listed it as of yet. When planning my business and registering it for taxes and with the Hawaii state business registration division, I spoke to several people before pursuing this business and I was told when registering that TAT does not apply to our business and I followed all known protocols for registration. If this is the problem, I think this could easily be remedied by specifying vehicles fall into this tax, as I was informed by the state department that our business currently will have to pay a vehicle rental tax, but not TAT, according to state guidelines.
I have put great thought into making sure our vehicle is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and respectful to the island. I hope you will reconsider this ban or consider working with business owners like myself who are diligently working to try to follow all applicable laws and also support my family with a small business. I think this ban will ultimately only hurt small business owners and the winners are again the big resorts, with big impacts on the environment. I think this business is a great way for people to respectfully visit the island with minimal environmental impact and a way for locals to provide for their families by running a small business-I know for me personally, starting this campervan rental had been what I considered a dream come true for a business to support my family. I please ask you to reconsider or reach out to those with legitimate busiensses for guidelines of how we can work together to protect our island home. Please don't crush small businesses and allow billion dollar hotel chains to continue to thrive.
I also think this could be an opportunity for the county to make money by making a designated overnight parking area and charging a fee to park there. This problem also has been exaggerated by the fact that most campsites have been closed for two years, this is a reason I had waited until now to start renting so as to make sure there were spots for people to camp. Most campervans are self sustained, so if there is any county land that is unused I think this could be a great opportunity to regulate and make money for the county. I think campers would be willing to spend between $50-70 per night for a place to park. This would also easily distinguish renters from the many homeless who live in their vehicles.
My name is Lindsay Ginest and I run a camper van business here on the island called Suite Vans Maui. I am in support of TAT applying to these types of businesses along with capping the permits and licenses required to own this type of business.
The large issue at hand is camper vans, tourists, homeless, etc camping anywhere they please which is affecting the community.
-The biggest supplier for this issue is those vehicles that are not registered, licensed, insured, or paying taxes all together. These illegal businesses have multiple vehicles in their fleets, advertise on the largest platform Outdoorsy, and don't pay a single tax or report income.
-The next largest supplier for this issue is the companies that are licensed and registered, however they allow guests/tourists to beach camp anywhere they please because the current law actually allows it.
A simple way to eliminate those who are not registered or permitted would be to require the same registration process on Outdoorsy.com that was applied at the beginning of 2022 for Airbnb, Expedia, etc.
-Requiring a GE, TAT, and potentially an up to date RV-3 Tax Return on Outdoorsy.com would eliminate the largest advertising platform for illegal companies.
Clearly the current Maui county law about camping should be amended, there are companies supplying a fishing pole in their vehicles and allowing tourists to slip through a legal loophole to camp anywhere. This is out of date, not working, and is affecting the community. I am here stating that I own a camper van company and it should be illegal for tourists to camp on the beach. Requiring a Hawaiian ID or being of Hawaiian decent should be necessary to camp outside of designated areas and that should simply be the law. This would eliminate the companies that are not taking Maui into consideration while earning their profit, which is easily possible to do while also doing the right thing.
The final thing I will state is that current companies paying RV-2/RV-3 tax don't have a way of being held accountable / audited. There could be an algorithm put in place taking into account the average nightly rate of companies along with the income they report each year which would determine the outliers that are not submitting an accurate rental motor vehicle surcharge tax.
Changes need to be made, caps need to put in place, TAT should be implemented on all who are running this type of business, laws need to be amended, and companies need to be held accountable for what is being financially reported.
Mahalo for your time.
Owner of Suite Vans Maui
Lindsay Ginest
Aloha Committee Chair Paltin, Committee Vice-Chair King, and Committee Members,
I am submitting the following testimony on behalf of the REALTORS Association of Maui and our 1,900+ members. The REALTORS Association of Maui remains “Neutral” on the issue overall, but we are in strong support of changes to the legislative proposal that were put forth during the March 17th, 2022, PSLU Committee meeting.
Specifically, we strongly agree with the addition of language that explicitly states that properties “allowed to be used for transient vacation rental use” will maintain that ability, even if they are not currently being used as such. This will ensure that vested property rights are acknowledged and protected, and we hope the committee adopts that language. Similarly, we support the removal of unit counts, so long as properties with a vested right to rent are clearly protected under the law.
Mahalo,
Jason A. Economou
Government Affairs Director
REALTORS Association of Maui
Dear land use committee,
My name is Amber Mueller and I am writing in regards to the news article today considering banning campervan rentals. I am a nurse at the hospital and have a great love and respect for the island. My husband and I have three little keiki and we recently purchased one campervan that we had built specifically for our business plan, that we are about to start renting. It is here on Maui, but we have not listed it as of yet. When planning my business and registering it for taxes and with the Hawaii state business registration division, I spoke to several people before pursuing this business and I was told when registering that TAT does not apply to our business and I followed all known protocols for registration. If this is the problem, I think this could easily be remedied by specifying vehicles fall into this tax, as I was informed by the state department that our business currently will have to pay a vehicle rental tax, but not TAT, according to state guidelines.
I have put great thought into making sure our vehicle is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and respectful to the island. I hope you will reconsider this ban or consider working with business owners like myself who are diligently working to try to follow all applicable laws and also support my family with a small business. I think this ban will ultimately only hurt small business owners and the winners are again the big resorts, with big impacts on the environment. I think this business is a great way for people to respectfully visit the island with minimal environmental impact and a way for locals to provide for their families by running a small business-I know for me personally, starting this campervan rental had been what I considered a dream come true for a business to support my family. I please ask you to reconsider or reach out to those with legitimate busiensses for guidelines of how we can work together to protect our island home. Please don't crush small businesses and allow billion dollar hotel chains to continue to thrive.
I also think this could be an opportunity for the county to make money by making a designated overnight parking area and charging a fee to park there. This problem also has been exaggerated by the fact that most campsites have been closed for two years, this is a reason I had waited until now to start renting so as to make sure there were spots for people to camp. Most campervans are self sustained, so if there is any county land that is unused I think this could be a great opportunity to regulate and make money for the county. I think campers would be willing to spend between $50-70 per night for a place to park. This would also easily distinguish renters from the many homeless who live in their vehicles.
Thanks so much for your consideration.
Amber Mueller
Testimonies received by PSLU Committee