Making Sense of Mandatory Resort Fees
More than 1,000 hotels in the U.S. require guests to pay a mandatory resort fee, stated as a fixed dollar amount per room per night
April 10, 2018
James Mak
Time to End the Preferential Taxation of Timeshare Occupancy?
Timeshares comprise a significant percentage of visitor accommodations in Hawaii. There are currently over 11,000 timeshare units in the state, and unlike traditional hotel accommodations,
March 27, 2018
Sustainable Tourism Development and Overtourism
Everyone agrees that tourism should be developed in a sustainable way. Yet, nearly 25 years after the term “sustainable tourism” became fashionable, sustainable tourism development
November 15, 2017
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
March 9, 2017
Raising 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
February 3, 2017
The 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
February 2, 2017
How 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.
January 26, 2017
Regulating 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
January 18, 2017
How Hawaii’s State Government Shares Transient Accommodation Tax Revenues With Its Local Governments
Many states in the U.S. give unrestricted financial support to their local governments. The reasons some state governments provide aid and others do not, and
May 12, 2016