Economy
Is Hawaii’s Hotel Room Tax Law Obsolete?
With tax collections falling behind expectations, State lawmakers are pressuring the tax department to increase effort to collect uncollected taxes from internet sales.* In 2015 the State Attorney General’s Office scored a “major” victory when the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that online travel companies (OTCs) are required to pay Hawaii’s general excise tax (GET) on […]
Read MoreUHERO State Forecast Update: As Growth Ebbs, Risks Swell
After seven years of sustained growth in the Islands, deceleration is now underway. In part this stems from the slowing pace of construction industry expansion. But it also reflects a generalized slowing as demand growth eases and labor markets tighten. Tourism has kept up a record-breaking pace longer than expected; still, there will only be […]
Read MoreForecasting in a Mixed Up World: Nowcasting Hawaii Tourism
We evaluate the short term forecasting performance of methods that systematically incorporate high frequency information via covariates. Our study provides a thorough introduction of these methods to the tourism literature. We highlight the distinguishing features and limitations of each tool and evaluate their forecasting performance in two tourism-specific applications. The first uses monthly indicators to […]
Read MoreRaising Property Taxes to Improve Public Schools
By James Mak and Carl Bonham Hawaii’s public school teachers’ union (HSTA) is back at the State Legislature this session to ask lawmakers to help find more money to pay teachers and other education expenses. HSTA was at the Legislature last year to lobby for a 1% increase in the State’s 4% general excise and use […]
Read MoreThe Exorbitant Cost of Collecting Honolulu’s Rail Surcharge Tax
Act 247, SLH 2005, granted counties the authority to impose a county surcharge of no more than 0.5% on gross income that is subject to the State’s GET [General Excise Tax] at the rate of 4.0% to fund county public transportation systems… The City and County of Honolulu was the only county to adopt the […]
Read MoreHow Many Tourists is Too Many?
By James Mak Honolulu Star Advertiser columnist, Lee Cataluna, recently asked: “How many tourists is too many tourists?” 1 Apparently, she already knew the answer. To her, the 8.5 million plus tourists coming to Hawaii each year is way too many. She laments that nobody seems to be talking about limiting the number “…like maybe […]
Read MoreRegulating Home-Share Rentals in Hawaii
By James Mak Last year nearly one in three U.S. travelers stayed in home-based accommodation units compared to one in ten in 2011. 1 A search by the New Orleans Planning Commission found more than 40 websites that facilitate short-term rentals ranging from single rooms in private homes to entire villas. 2 The most conspicuous […]
Read MoreWhat will we get with Trump?
By Byron Gangnes The unexpected election of Donald Trump has thrown a monkey wrench into forecasting the US and global economy. During the Presidential race, candidate Trump promised an array of dramatic policy changes, many of which could have dramatic economic impacts. The question now is which policies President Trump will in fact advance, which […]
Read MoreAnnual Hawaii Forecast with Asia-Pacific Outlook: Healthy Economy Faces New Administration Risks
The Hawaii economy continues to perform well. Visitors are up, unemployment is down, and the pace of building remains healthy. But the expansion, now in its seventh year, has yet to fully restore household incomes. And increments to growth will be smaller going forward, with a topping out of construction in 2018 and slowing of […]
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