Thanks for the heads up and posting the link,
@TUGBrian. Certainly for the future, it looks like we're going to get bigger tax bills. I just wonder if we'll be billed retroactively? The Westin properties were very active in the lawsuit against the county.
The rationale for a separate category and higher tax is based on the argument that timeshares have a more negative impact on Maui County than hotels. I wonder what the economic impact would be if all the timeshares were converted to hotel units?
Some excerpts from the decision below:
Moreover, the County considered many different
purposes when creating the Time Share classification, including
time share properties’ burdens on employment, infrastructure
use, and Maui’s ability to attract visitors for large events.
It also wanted time share
properties to contribute revenue needed for infrastructure
repair and maintenance. These are legitimate policy purposes,
and the creation of a separate real property tax classification
that could be used to regulate this type of land differently is
rationally related to those purposes...
...Neither the Maui County Code nor
any other source requires that tax rates be set at exactly the
number that would make tax revenue contributions from all
sources equal. On these facts, the County set a rate rationally
related to its several policy purposes, including raising
revenue for time share properties’ impacts on the community.
We conclude that the classification of time share
units under the Time Share classification is reasonably related
to legitimate policy purposes, including to (1) ensure that time
share properties make greater contributions to the County’s
revenue and (2) mitigate time share properties’ impact on County
infrastructure. Thus, we conclude that the Time Share
classification’s creation and rates are constitutional under the
equal protection clauses of the Hawai‘i and U.S. Constitutions.