Governor of Hawaii Calls For Tax Increase on Timeshares January 27, 2011
Posted by John Stephens in : Hawaii timeshare, News & Events , add a commentSometimes, you just shake your head.
At a time when Hawaii’s timeshare and tourism industry is just starting to emerge from the devastating effects of the recession, the newly-elected Governor of Hawaii goes and sucks all the air out of the tourism sails during his recent State of the State address.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Gov. Neil Abercrombie is calling for additional taxes on timeshares and cuts to the marketing budget of the Hawaii Tourism Authority to help reduce a projected two-year budget deficit of $700 million.
Tourism isn’t the only area to face the budget axe, as the Governor is looking to cut programs across the board in areas such as welfare, health care and public worker labor costs.
Problem is – none of these areas actually produce revenue like tourism – which is the lifeblood of the state.
The newspaper reports that “Abercrombie plans to propose taking about $10 million of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s $44 million marketing budget and diverting it to basic government services, environmental protection, public facility improvement and advancing culture and arts. He also plans to ask the state Legislature to increase the transient accommodations tax paid by those staying in time shares by 2 percentage points to 9.25 percent.”
With the effects of the recession wreaking havoc on municipal budgets across the country, I suppose it was only a matter of time before such high level talk surfaced. Tax increase discussions on timeshares have been underway on committee level in South Carolina for months, even though state legislators there give the idea virtually no chance of passage in the 2011 session.
Visitor numbers have been up significantly in Hawaii in 2010, with total visitor arrivals up 8.6% for the first 11 months of the year as people return to one of the top tourist destinations in the country. Arrivals were up 18.2% in November alone, but now, the good work that’s gone into attracting visitors back to the Aloha State could be undone.
“We could see lost jobs, reduced hours, less private infrastructure reinvestment and ultimately fewer collected taxes to fill state coffers,” said Keith Vieira, senior vice president/director of marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia.
Timeshare owners and people looking to buy timeshare have known for years that Hawaii has some of the best resorts in the world. Disney’s new Aulani Resort in Ko Olina is due to open later this year and resorts such as the Westin Ka’anapali are traditionally some of the most sought-after properties in the world.
Don’t let the talk of narrow-minded political leaders keep you from enjoying the spectacular destination that is Hawaii. Even if the talk of transient accommodation tax increases becomes reality, it makes buying Hawaii timeshare an even better option. You can check out the Hawaii timeshare for sale on the BuyaTimeshare.com website by clicking here.