HTA has numbers to fight tax proposal

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has taken a stand against a proposed increase to Hawaii’s transient accommodation tax (TAT) beyond the current 9.25%. An increase to the TAT would negatively affect Hawaii’s competitive position in the marketplace by putting an additional tax on visitors, says the HTA. “Currently, the visitor industry supports more than 166,000 jobs and we anticipate this number to grow this year. However, we are still well below the peak of more than 178,000 jobs in 2005, and the TAT increase could cause a loss of jobs in the tourism sector,”said Mike McCartney, president of the HTA. Visitors contribute an average of $196 in p.p. per day spending, which adds up to approximately $1,800 p.p. per trip. These expenses are inclusive of the 14% hotel room tax, which include the 4.712% GET and current 9.25% TAT. Should the TAT increase to 11.25%, hotel room taxes would then jump to 16%, says the HTA. “While we do not support increasing the TAT, we do support keeping the rate at 9.25% beyond the current sunset date,”said McCartney. (http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org)