Hawaii lawmakers are set to raise a tax on short-term accommodations by 0.75% to fund climate change initiatives, generating an estimated $100 million annually. This new revenue aims to tackle challenges like beach erosion and natural disasters, following the devastating wildfire in Lahaina. Governor Josh Green supports the bill, which reflects Hawaii's pioneering approach to utilizing hospitality taxes for environmental funding, marking it as the first state to dedicate such revenue for climate protection. The cumulative tax rate for visitors will approach 19% with this increase.
"We had a $13 billion tragedy in Maui and we lost 102 people. These kind of dollars will help us prevent that next disaster," Green said in an interview.
Andrey Yushkov, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, mentioned, 'I was unaware of any other state that has set aside lodging tax revenue for the purposes of environmental protection or climate change.'
Collection
[
|
...
]