Funds should be used for housing not infrastructure. Impact fees should be utilized to provide for the infrastructure. Please see the attachment.
Mahalo, Dick Mayer
Please don't even think about raising the GET! It's a grossly regressive tax and badly hurts local residents. If you want money for housing infrastructure, try cutting things like your $40 million cultural center. The fact that the Council is even considering this is a smack in the face to all local residents. Try representing us instead of taxing us to death!
I have been a housing advocate for the past 35 years because we have not delivered homes for our local residents and many local families are moving away to the US mainland for a better life. While targeting these new funds for affordable housing projects is wonderful, any GET increase in taxes will be mostly impactful on those of very low to middle income, who are already struggling to keep up with the costs for housing, food, gas, medical care and others. In the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan created on July 19, 2021, the funding for building the affordable homes for our people would be generated from property taxes on high priced real properties primarily owned by outside investors of Maui's real estate. For me this latter way of raising funds to build the homes our people need would be preferable than raising the GET surcharge of 0.5% because of its adverse impact on our local people. Please consider carefully how we, the County of Maui, will raise the moneys needed to pay for the lack of affordable homes we all are experiencing. Mahalo.
Maui County is frequently in the news for our severe shortages of healthcare providers, including lack of mental healthcare providers on Lanai, shortage of primary care professionals on Molokai and the lack OBGYN in private practice who no longer will be delivering babies on Maui. The GET is a death tax figuratively for many medical practices, and can literally result in death for residents of Maui County who do not have access to healthcare services. If the GET surcharge is considered please exempt healthcare services from the GET surcharge. All healthcare services provided by hospitals, nonprofits and their employed providers are already exempt.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/01/its-horrendous-the-deaths-of-2-doctors-deepen-the-void-in-rural-health-care-access/
N
Dear Honorable Representatives of the County Council,
I continue to strongly oppose implementing a general excise tax surcharge.
In addition to my previously posted testimony, I wanted to respond to comments made during the last hearing on 6/20/23. The honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee and Finance Director Scott Teruya seemed to imply much of the tax burden would be born by visitors to Maui with estimates of "30%" coming from the visitor industry. Lets take a closer look and really evaluate how this breaks down.
It is estimated this tax will bring in around $80 million dollars a year ("Maui Is Set To Join Other Counties In Raising Taxes To Pay For Roads And Housing". Civil Beat. https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/06/maui-is-set-to-join-other-counties-in-raising-taxes-to-pay-for-roads-and-housing/ .Accessed 6/23/2023).
Maui county had 2.9 million visitors in 2022.
Visitors spent $5.69 Billion dollars in Maui County in 2022.
("2.9M visitors to Maui spent $5.69B in 2022". The Maui News. https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2023/02/2-9m-visitors-to-maui-spent-5-69b-in-2022/ . Accessed 6/23/2023.)
Maui County Population: 164,351 (estimated population on July 1, 2022. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/mauicountyhawaii)
Lets do the math:
$5.69 billion in visitor spending x 0.5% = $28,450,000 paid in taxes by visitors but keep in mind this expense is spread out among 2.9 million visitors, a number that significantly dwarfs our population in the county.
$28,450,000 divided by 2.9 million people = $9.81 This GET surcharge will add an extra $9.81 on average to each tourists trip to Maui for the year.
Now lets look at how it affects residents of Maui County.
Surcharge is estimated to bring in $80,000,000 with $28,450,000 paid by visitors so:
$80,000,000 - $28,450,000 = $51,550,000 covered by local residents but this much larger tax bill is shared by only 164,351 people
$51,550,000 divided by 164,351 people = $313.66 per person per year in increased tax on average for Maui Residents.
Each visitor will pay $9.81 per year on average to the surcharge
Each resident will pay $313.66 per year on average to the surcharge
This tax will not be felt by the visitor industry. It's going to be felt by residents.
Honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee also commented that 0.5% tax on spending "is nothing". I highly disagree and think it is insulting to each and every citizen of Maui county from our Kupuna on fixed income to our young families trying to get a foothold.
If a 30 year old resident put that money into a 401k with employer match each year until retiring at age 65 they would have $86,055 more in their retirement account assuming a 6% rate of return. Or they could put a child through college.
$313.66 a year for our kupuna on fixed income could determine if they can afford their medication, or holiday meal etc.
With all due respect, I think this is a far cry from "nothing" dear honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee.
I 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, allowing for accessory dwelling units on more properties, and 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 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
Subject: Committee to discuss Maui general excise tax surcharge, June 26 : Maui Now
Aloha to all -
For myself, don't take issue with Maui County proposed excise sales tax as long as the funds are used for ehst they are intended for. Along with the interest from. In my understanding! the discussion goes to the County of Maui voters. Not the Maui County Council Board. Who's jurisdiction does Bill 49 fall into. The voters of County Maui.
Absolutely oppose surcharge. Additional taxes in an economy starting to falter is unwise. I am a B&B owner and for the 1st time in 13 years, my future bookings are 1/4 of what they have been starting this September and into next year. I can see the future of the economy based on my booking rate, and another tax on everyone is a bad idea right now. Even more, this surcharge will tax everyone’s food, medical expenses, and other basic needs that should never be taxed one cent.
I oppose the GET tax increase for us residents that live and work here on Maui.
Please find a way to get this xtra money from the visitor, second home owners, the vacation rental industry and all the Airbnb rentals that are driving the cost of housing up here on island.
The cost of living here is out of control and should be reduced any way you can.
Please vote NO to this increase.
Mahalo
haikujoe@hawaii.rr.com
I oppose the GET increase. As others have commented here, the residents of Maui County (and State of Hawaii) do not need an increase of anything now. We are all struggling... some more than others. This will affect the RESIDENTS who pay GET on their income and living costs for all of us. And, give local residents another reason to move from their home, Maui.
Aloha - I am opposed to the increase of .5% tax for Maui County. Residents are already struggling to get by and the addition of more tax will make it worse. The costs for general infrastructure should be the responsibility of the Council and state government to plan and budget appropriately and accordingly. If there are not funds in the budget for these items, then the council should consider reallocation from other items. Why should resident pay for the government's inability to plan correctly? Why should residents who are making ends meet and covering their own expenses for housing be asked to then step up and help underwrite general housing fees/infrastructure? Making those who are already contributing contribute more is unethical and unfair.
I want to testify regarding the possible additional .5% tax increase for Maui County. I am very opposed to this idea. I agree that we need to help out with affordable housing, but raising the cost of doing business will have the opposite effect. Hawaii has a very regressive tax with our excise tax set up. Every level of business has to pay the excise tax, thus adding multiple layers of taxes for all businesses.
.5% seems like a small amount now, but it adds up over the long run to all levels of business. Middle income residents and low income residents, end up paying more than their fair share of these taxes, on food, medicine, clothing, school supplies and housing. You will be taxing the people who need the help the most.
Look “outside the box” to help support affordable housing. Added taxes are the easiest to suggest, but can do the most damage to all of our residents. Please do not add to our tax burden.
Aloha.
I continue to oppose this increase. I have noticed that the money could go towards items like the Bus program. That program needs to be reassessed. I suggest an audit be done on to understand what is the cost per rider. My perception is that the country could get everyone an uber and save money. But that is just an opinion from looking into the bus as it passes by with one or two people on it. Please don't raise taxes.
Funds should be used for housing not infrastructure. Impact fees should be utilized to provide for the infrastructure. Please see the attachment.
Mahalo, Dick Mayer
Testimonies received from BFED Committee
Please don't even think about raising the GET! It's a grossly regressive tax and badly hurts local residents. If you want money for housing infrastructure, try cutting things like your $40 million cultural center. The fact that the Council is even considering this is a smack in the face to all local residents. Try representing us instead of taxing us to death!
I have been a housing advocate for the past 35 years because we have not delivered homes for our local residents and many local families are moving away to the US mainland for a better life. While targeting these new funds for affordable housing projects is wonderful, any GET increase in taxes will be mostly impactful on those of very low to middle income, who are already struggling to keep up with the costs for housing, food, gas, medical care and others. In the Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan created on July 19, 2021, the funding for building the affordable homes for our people would be generated from property taxes on high priced real properties primarily owned by outside investors of Maui's real estate. For me this latter way of raising funds to build the homes our people need would be preferable than raising the GET surcharge of 0.5% because of its adverse impact on our local people. Please consider carefully how we, the County of Maui, will raise the moneys needed to pay for the lack of affordable homes we all are experiencing. Mahalo.
Maui County is frequently in the news for our severe shortages of healthcare providers, including lack of mental healthcare providers on Lanai, shortage of primary care professionals on Molokai and the lack OBGYN in private practice who no longer will be delivering babies on Maui. The GET is a death tax figuratively for many medical practices, and can literally result in death for residents of Maui County who do not have access to healthcare services. If the GET surcharge is considered please exempt healthcare services from the GET surcharge. All healthcare services provided by hospitals, nonprofits and their employed providers are already exempt.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/01/its-horrendous-the-deaths-of-2-doctors-deepen-the-void-in-rural-health-care-access/
N
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/03/30/mauis-only-private-obstetrics-practice-will-soon-stop-services/
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2023/03/maui-physicians-back-bill-to-lessen-their-tax-burden/
https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/10/why-this-hawaiian-island-has-to-outsource-psychiatric-care/
Hawaii Provider Shortage Crisis Task Force
Dear Honorable Representatives of the County Council,
I continue to strongly oppose implementing a general excise tax surcharge.
In addition to my previously posted testimony, I wanted to respond to comments made during the last hearing on 6/20/23. The honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee and Finance Director Scott Teruya seemed to imply much of the tax burden would be born by visitors to Maui with estimates of "30%" coming from the visitor industry. Lets take a closer look and really evaluate how this breaks down.
It is estimated this tax will bring in around $80 million dollars a year ("Maui Is Set To Join Other Counties In Raising Taxes To Pay For Roads And Housing". Civil Beat. https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/06/maui-is-set-to-join-other-counties-in-raising-taxes-to-pay-for-roads-and-housing/ .Accessed 6/23/2023).
Maui county had 2.9 million visitors in 2022.
Visitors spent $5.69 Billion dollars in Maui County in 2022.
("2.9M visitors to Maui spent $5.69B in 2022". The Maui News. https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2023/02/2-9m-visitors-to-maui-spent-5-69b-in-2022/ . Accessed 6/23/2023.)
Maui County Population: 164,351 (estimated population on July 1, 2022. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/mauicountyhawaii)
Lets do the math:
$5.69 billion in visitor spending x 0.5% = $28,450,000 paid in taxes by visitors but keep in mind this expense is spread out among 2.9 million visitors, a number that significantly dwarfs our population in the county.
$28,450,000 divided by 2.9 million people = $9.81 This GET surcharge will add an extra $9.81 on average to each tourists trip to Maui for the year.
Now lets look at how it affects residents of Maui County.
Surcharge is estimated to bring in $80,000,000 with $28,450,000 paid by visitors so:
$80,000,000 - $28,450,000 = $51,550,000 covered by local residents but this much larger tax bill is shared by only 164,351 people
$51,550,000 divided by 164,351 people = $313.66 per person per year in increased tax on average for Maui Residents.
Each visitor will pay $9.81 per year on average to the surcharge
Each resident will pay $313.66 per year on average to the surcharge
This tax will not be felt by the visitor industry. It's going to be felt by residents.
Honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee also commented that 0.5% tax on spending "is nothing". I highly disagree and think it is insulting to each and every citizen of Maui county from our Kupuna on fixed income to our young families trying to get a foothold.
If a 30 year old resident put that money into a 401k with employer match each year until retiring at age 65 they would have $86,055 more in their retirement account assuming a 6% rate of return. Or they could put a child through college.
$313.66 a year for our kupuna on fixed income could determine if they can afford their medication, or holiday meal etc.
With all due respect, I think this is a far cry from "nothing" dear honorable Chairwoman Alice Lee.
I 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, allowing for accessory dwelling units on more properties, and 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 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
Subject: Committee to discuss Maui general excise tax surcharge, June 26 : Maui Now
Aloha to all -
For myself, don't take issue with Maui County proposed excise sales tax as long as the funds are used for ehst they are intended for. Along with the interest from. In my understanding! the discussion goes to the County of Maui voters. Not the Maui County Council Board. Who's jurisdiction does Bill 49 fall into. The voters of County Maui.
Leo Thiner
Absolutely oppose surcharge. Additional taxes in an economy starting to falter is unwise. I am a B&B owner and for the 1st time in 13 years, my future bookings are 1/4 of what they have been starting this September and into next year. I can see the future of the economy based on my booking rate, and another tax on everyone is a bad idea right now. Even more, this surcharge will tax everyone’s food, medical expenses, and other basic needs that should never be taxed one cent.
I oppose the GET tax increase for us residents that live and work here on Maui.
Please find a way to get this xtra money from the visitor, second home owners, the vacation rental industry and all the Airbnb rentals that are driving the cost of housing up here on island.
The cost of living here is out of control and should be reduced any way you can.
Please vote NO to this increase.
Mahalo
haikujoe@hawaii.rr.com
I oppose the GET increase. As others have commented here, the residents of Maui County (and State of Hawaii) do not need an increase of anything now. We are all struggling... some more than others. This will affect the RESIDENTS who pay GET on their income and living costs for all of us. And, give local residents another reason to move from their home, Maui.
Aloha - I am opposed to the increase of .5% tax for Maui County. Residents are already struggling to get by and the addition of more tax will make it worse. The costs for general infrastructure should be the responsibility of the Council and state government to plan and budget appropriately and accordingly. If there are not funds in the budget for these items, then the council should consider reallocation from other items. Why should resident pay for the government's inability to plan correctly? Why should residents who are making ends meet and covering their own expenses for housing be asked to then step up and help underwrite general housing fees/infrastructure? Making those who are already contributing contribute more is unethical and unfair.
I want to testify regarding the possible additional .5% tax increase for Maui County. I am very opposed to this idea. I agree that we need to help out with affordable housing, but raising the cost of doing business will have the opposite effect. Hawaii has a very regressive tax with our excise tax set up. Every level of business has to pay the excise tax, thus adding multiple layers of taxes for all businesses.
.5% seems like a small amount now, but it adds up over the long run to all levels of business. Middle income residents and low income residents, end up paying more than their fair share of these taxes, on food, medicine, clothing, school supplies and housing. You will be taxing the people who need the help the most.
Look “outside the box” to help support affordable housing. Added taxes are the easiest to suggest, but can do the most damage to all of our residents. Please do not add to our tax burden.
Linda Kay Okamoto
808-559-0200
Aloha.
I continue to oppose this increase. I have noticed that the money could go towards items like the Bus program. That program needs to be reassessed. I suggest an audit be done on to understand what is the cost per rider. My perception is that the country could get everyone an uber and save money. But that is just an opinion from looking into the bus as it passes by with one or two people on it. Please don't raise taxes.