Increasing GET will only harm the working residents' bottom line for dubious benefit. The market drives housing prices. How about taxing tourism & tourists to pay for our infrastructure that tourism uses a disproportionate amount of? That's more fair and sustainable for folks who actually live here instead of folks taking selfies & using huge amounts of water.
Maui County has the fifth worst shortage of primary care providers in a survey of 3000 U.S. counties. Hawaii as a state is ranked the worst state in America for access to care, with half a million state residents in healthcare professionals shortage areas. Hawaii is the only U.S. state that penalizes healthcare providers for caring for our kapuna, military veterans and underserved communities in the Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare programs. Federal policies and CMS officials state that it would be fraud to pass Medicare GEt taxes to patients, as previous encouraged on the Hawai’i’s Department of Taxation’s website Tax Facts 98-1.
Increasing GET taxes on gross revenues for these medical and dental practices will accelerate the rapid loss of medical providers on Maui Island. If the Council does decides to pass this GET surcharge, please show leadership by exempting healthcare from GET taxation surcharge. Without tax relief, it is very probable that there will be few medical and dental practices left to tax in several years.
Hi, Please don’t increase the GET tax. Find the money through the current revenue stream and budget. We locals are economically dying through a thousand cuts.
Dear Honorable Representatives of the County Council,
I am writing to oppose Bill 49. Raising the General Excise Tax would be a mistake and hurt our working class families on Maui worse than anyone. This tax immediately raises the cost of essential goods such as medicine, food and housing in our county which already has one of the highest costs of living. I implore the committee and council members to consider other means of increasing affordable housing on Maui. Partnerships with private industry, reducing red tape and allowing for higher density zoning would go a long way to creating truly affordable housing without passing the cost on to all residents in such a regressive and indiscriminate way.
I am also writing to inform you of one of the many unintended consequences on access to healthcare on Maui. Private practice physicians are required to pay the GE tax, a burden that no other state places on medical practices. I am the owner of Maui Orthopedic Institute LLC. We are an Orthopedic Surgery practice and have increased access to routine care and help to stabilize and maintain 24/7 orthopedic trauma coverage at Maui Memorial Medical Center. While most businesses pass the general excise tax on to consumers, private practice physicians can't pass the tax on to Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare (Veterans Insurance) patients. Most private practices on Maui are barely scraping by due to inflation, rising overhead costs, and an inability to set our prices to keep up. Essentially all insurance reimbursements are pegged to Medicare rates which have continued to decline. We have already seen the only private Obstetrics and Gynecology practice on Maui discontinue providing obstetric care for the community due to the cost and poor reimbursement. If Bill 49 is passed I believe that many local private practices will continue to close. Physicians have 49 other states to choose to practice in without this burden, almost all of which are also in lower cost of living areas.
Please consider these consequences and vote no on Bill 49.
Sincerely,
Zachary Thielen MD, FAAOS
Owner
Maui Orthopedic Institute LLC
My family and I are strongly against any increase in the general excise tax and basically any increases in taxes that are paid by local residents. I would hope that the huge budget just passed took into account all of the issues now being used as a reason to put even more taxes on our people. Please address our needs by requiring the County to balance it's budget with efficiency and by taxing the tourist. We all know that the true cost of the general excise tax ON ALL GOODS AND SERVICES is well over 11%. Please, Enough already.
Aloha Council.
A famous line from Raps Hawaii " Dont they know when you raise the prices the cost go up".
I strongly oppose this huge 13% increase in our States all encompassing compounding tax. I agree, Maui should get its fair share, but to put this burden on our residents is not fair. It will raise the cost of so many housing related items. Rents will go up across the board for residential and commercial, affecting the bottom line of all of us. Please rethink this and come up with something that puts the burden on the non resident who are impacting our infrastructure and not paying their fair share. I dont know the solution, but start there and see where the path leads.
Another idea is to exclude all essential things like medical, housing, groceries, gas, and utilities.
Maybe we need a required Maui entry card for non residents. What if 2 million visiting non residents paid $50 a head to get a Maui County entry Card, $100 Mill a year. The card could give a "Malahini" discount at LOCAL participating business, so it has value. We all fill out the States antiquated ag form upon arrival, so this could be offered and collected there for the entire state. Local residents or staying with family could be exempt.
Please don't tax us more, the cost of living here is already so high, and we cant afford to lose any more of our next generation.
Thanks
Ben Walin
12 Kaimao St
Paia, Kuau, Maui Hawaii 96779
C 808-250-7687
Aloha Council.
A famous line from Raps Hawaii " Dont they know when you raise the prices the cost go up".
I strongly oppose this huge 13% increase in our States all encompassing compounding tax. I agree, Maui should get its fair share, but to put this burden on our residents is not fair. It will raise the cost of so many housing related cost. Rents will go up across the board for residential and commercial, affecting the bottom line of all of us. Please rethink this and come up with something that puts the burden on the non resident who are impacting our infrastructure and not paying their fair share. I dont know the solution, but start there and see where the path leads.
Maybe exclude all essential things like medical, housing, groceries, gas, and utilities.
Maybe we need a required Maui entry card for non residents. What if 2 million visiting non residents paid $50 a head to get a Maui County entry Card, $100 Mill a year. The card could give a "Malahini" discount at LOCAL participating business, so it has some value. We as fill out the States antiquated ag form, so may this new requirement could be offered and collected there for the entire state. Local residents or staying with family could be exempt. Covid would have been the perfect time to implement this but its not to late.
Please don't tax us more, the cost of living here is already so high, and we cant afford to lose any more of our next generation.
Thanks
GET is a regressive tax system which impacts the least economically advantaged among us the hardest. By taxing those of us least able to afford it in order to create water infrastructure for other groups of economically challenged individuals seems like robbing Peter to pay Paul. The county has a challenging history of using water to advantage certain users and groups over others and control development in certain ways. To ask an already very highly taxed group of citizens to pay even more in support of water and county led development could be seen as a risky scheme. Maybe try not building a roundabout In south Kihei that the Dept of Ed said would not work and using just a little if that money to help the people of all Maui instead. The council must maintain the fiscal trust of the public and do right by us before they ask us for even more.
Increasing GET will only harm the working residents' bottom line for dubious benefit. The market drives housing prices. How about taxing tourism & tourists to pay for our infrastructure that tourism uses a disproportionate amount of? That's more fair and sustainable for folks who actually live here instead of folks taking selfies & using huge amounts of water.
Dear Council Members,
Maui County has the fifth worst shortage of primary care providers in a survey of 3000 U.S. counties. Hawaii as a state is ranked the worst state in America for access to care, with half a million state residents in healthcare professionals shortage areas. Hawaii is the only U.S. state that penalizes healthcare providers for caring for our kapuna, military veterans and underserved communities in the Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare programs. Federal policies and CMS officials state that it would be fraud to pass Medicare GEt taxes to patients, as previous encouraged on the Hawai’i’s Department of Taxation’s website Tax Facts 98-1.
Increasing GET taxes on gross revenues for these medical and dental practices will accelerate the rapid loss of medical providers on Maui Island. If the Council does decides to pass this GET surcharge, please show leadership by exempting healthcare from GET taxation surcharge. Without tax relief, it is very probable that there will be few medical and dental practices left to tax in several years.
Scott Grosskreutz, M.D.
From: Hawaii 24 <waynefeike@gmail.com>
Subject: GET Increase
Hi, Please don’t increase the GET tax. Find the money through the current revenue stream and budget. We locals are economically dying through a thousand cuts.
Sent from my iPhone
Testimony received by BFED Committee
Dear Honorable Representatives of the County Council,
I am writing to oppose Bill 49. Raising the General Excise Tax would be a mistake and hurt our working class families on Maui worse than anyone. This tax immediately raises the cost of essential goods such as medicine, food and housing in our county which already has one of the highest costs of living. I implore the committee and council members to consider other means of increasing affordable housing on Maui. Partnerships with private industry, reducing red tape and allowing for higher density zoning would go a long way to creating truly affordable housing without passing the cost on to all residents in such a regressive and indiscriminate way.
I am also writing to inform you of one of the many unintended consequences on access to healthcare on Maui. Private practice physicians are required to pay the GE tax, a burden that no other state places on medical practices. I am the owner of Maui Orthopedic Institute LLC. We are an Orthopedic Surgery practice and have increased access to routine care and help to stabilize and maintain 24/7 orthopedic trauma coverage at Maui Memorial Medical Center. While most businesses pass the general excise tax on to consumers, private practice physicians can't pass the tax on to Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare (Veterans Insurance) patients. Most private practices on Maui are barely scraping by due to inflation, rising overhead costs, and an inability to set our prices to keep up. Essentially all insurance reimbursements are pegged to Medicare rates which have continued to decline. We have already seen the only private Obstetrics and Gynecology practice on Maui discontinue providing obstetric care for the community due to the cost and poor reimbursement. If Bill 49 is passed I believe that many local private practices will continue to close. Physicians have 49 other states to choose to practice in without this burden, almost all of which are also in lower cost of living areas.
Please consider these consequences and vote no on Bill 49.
Sincerely,
Zachary Thielen MD, FAAOS
Owner
Maui Orthopedic Institute LLC
Aloha Finance Committee Members,
My family and I are strongly against any increase in the general excise tax and basically any increases in taxes that are paid by local residents. I would hope that the huge budget just passed took into account all of the issues now being used as a reason to put even more taxes on our people. Please address our needs by requiring the County to balance it's budget with efficiency and by taxing the tourist. We all know that the true cost of the general excise tax ON ALL GOODS AND SERVICES is well over 11%. Please, Enough already.
Subject: Oppose GET increase
Aloha Council.
A famous line from Raps Hawaii " Dont they know when you raise the prices the cost go up".
I strongly oppose this huge 13% increase in our States all encompassing compounding tax. I agree, Maui should get its fair share, but to put this burden on our residents is not fair. It will raise the cost of so many housing related items. Rents will go up across the board for residential and commercial, affecting the bottom line of all of us. Please rethink this and come up with something that puts the burden on the non resident who are impacting our infrastructure and not paying their fair share. I dont know the solution, but start there and see where the path leads.
Another idea is to exclude all essential things like medical, housing, groceries, gas, and utilities.
Maybe we need a required Maui entry card for non residents. What if 2 million visiting non residents paid $50 a head to get a Maui County entry Card, $100 Mill a year. The card could give a "Malahini" discount at LOCAL participating business, so it has value. We all fill out the States antiquated ag form upon arrival, so this could be offered and collected there for the entire state. Local residents or staying with family could be exempt.
Please don't tax us more, the cost of living here is already so high, and we cant afford to lose any more of our next generation.
Thanks
Ben Walin
12 Kaimao St
Paia, Kuau, Maui Hawaii 96779
C 808-250-7687
Aloha Council.
A famous line from Raps Hawaii " Dont they know when you raise the prices the cost go up".
I strongly oppose this huge 13% increase in our States all encompassing compounding tax. I agree, Maui should get its fair share, but to put this burden on our residents is not fair. It will raise the cost of so many housing related cost. Rents will go up across the board for residential and commercial, affecting the bottom line of all of us. Please rethink this and come up with something that puts the burden on the non resident who are impacting our infrastructure and not paying their fair share. I dont know the solution, but start there and see where the path leads.
Maybe exclude all essential things like medical, housing, groceries, gas, and utilities.
Maybe we need a required Maui entry card for non residents. What if 2 million visiting non residents paid $50 a head to get a Maui County entry Card, $100 Mill a year. The card could give a "Malahini" discount at LOCAL participating business, so it has some value. We as fill out the States antiquated ag form, so may this new requirement could be offered and collected there for the entire state. Local residents or staying with family could be exempt. Covid would have been the perfect time to implement this but its not to late.
Please don't tax us more, the cost of living here is already so high, and we cant afford to lose any more of our next generation.
Thanks
GET is a regressive tax system which impacts the least economically advantaged among us the hardest. By taxing those of us least able to afford it in order to create water infrastructure for other groups of economically challenged individuals seems like robbing Peter to pay Paul. The county has a challenging history of using water to advantage certain users and groups over others and control development in certain ways. To ask an already very highly taxed group of citizens to pay even more in support of water and county led development could be seen as a risky scheme. Maybe try not building a roundabout In south Kihei that the Dept of Ed said would not work and using just a little if that money to help the people of all Maui instead. The council must maintain the fiscal trust of the public and do right by us before they ask us for even more.