Maui taxes [IMPORTANT - Proposal to RAISE Property Tax - AGAIN!]

[alohakevin]

Here we go again. The Mayor of Maui has proposed a 7 percent increase in prop taxes for time share on Maui. This would take the rate from 15.00 to 16.50. This would be a combined total of 15 percent increase over the last two years. If you own a house in Maui the rate is 6.00. This is ridiculous. Once again the Mayor is choosing to alienate time share holders thinking they are an easy target. I would suggest we all make our concerns heard before the next council meeting on April 11th. Contact info can be found here www.ardaroc.org and click on Maui tax alert. I know that some will say it does no good to voice your opinion, I respectfully disagree. Last year there was a lot of good input and I believe it had an impact on the council. Granted tax went up but considerably less than what they were initially proposing. If we dont do anything we can be guaranteed of the outcome.

 

[DeniseM]

I agree - it does help to contact the counsel. Last time they mentioned that they were bombarded by emails from timeshare owners.

Here is a direct link to the council members: http://www.co.maui.hi.us/index.aspx?nid=158

Here are some more email links - including the mayor's - http://www.co.maui.hi.us/Directory.aspx?did=90

I suggest keeping it short and to the point - this is what I wrote:

Dear Council Member:

Timeshare owners are the most consistent visitors to Maui - we visit Maui and spend our dollars on Maui in both good times and bad.

Don't bit the hand that feeds you.

Vote no on the mayor's proposal to raise timeshare property tax.

DeniseM
Westin Ka'anapali Owner​

 

[Fredm]

Good grief, here we go again!

May as well just link to last year's thread. Nothing new to be discussed.

Bottom line: if the basis for the timeshare tax rate is not challenged in court, they will continue to raise it.
If the argument is simply over how much, it only reaffirms their ability to apply a discriminatory tax on timeshare owners.

 

[jarta]

It's not just timeshares where there is a proposed raise on a percentage basis from 2012 to 2013 for the Maui tax rates - according to the ARDA site:

Time Share: up 7.7%

Hotel: up 2.2%

Residential: up 8.1% (non-resident homeowner)

Apartment: up 9.1%

Commercial: up 12%

and

Agricultural: dead even

Industrial: down 1.4%

Homeowner: down 12.0% (need a Homeowner's exemption and be a resident) Salty

 

[jarta]

Fredm, ... Overall, the proposed FY13 budget for Maui County shows property tax revenue dropping 0.1% from 2012 ($208.8M to $208.7M).

All that is happening is that, for 2013, Maui is proposing to shift an even greater part of the incidence of the property tax to timeshare, apartment, hotel, commercial and non-resident owners from (mostly) resident homeowners. Salty

 

[alohakevin]

Good grief, here we go again!

May as well just link to last year's thread. Nothing new to be discussed.

Bottom line: if the basis for the timeshare tax rate is not challenged in court, they will continue to raise it.
If the argument is simply over how much, it only reaffirms their ability to apply a discriminatory tax on timeshare owners.

Maui County Commission Raises Timeshare Property Tax Rate

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Position/Call to Action
Now that the County has officially decided to increase the property tax rate for timeshare, ARDA-ROC will continue to assess it options, including working with the County to change the current assessment methodologies and exploring a strategy that would include legal action against the County to force a reduction in the current tax rate

Maybe its time to call them on it. How long are they going to "assess options" Im not a lawyer so I dont know if this can be legally challenged but it seems if it can this is the time to do it.

 

[Fredm]

Fredm, ... Overall, the proposed FY13 budget for Maui County shows property tax revenue dropping 0.1% from 2012 ($208.8M to $208.7M).

All that is happening is that, for 2013, Maui is proposing to shift an even greater part of the incidence of the property tax to timeshare, apartment, hotel, commercial and non-resident owners from (mostly) resident homeowners. Salty

Yes, I got that part.
County property tax revenues are not increasing because assessed valuations are not going up. So, they are selectively increasing tax rates on timeshares, non-resident owners, and transients to stay even, while further reducing tax rates on resident owners (who already get a 500k resident exemption).

All of which goes to say that Maui County (not the State) is using the property tax code to favor/penalize the various land users, without the semblance of any nexus for the rates applied. One of these days it will be legally challenged.

That this arbitrary application of tax rates hits timeshares the hardest by far is a reflection of the discriminatory views held by some members of the Maui County Council.

 

[Fredm]

Maybe its time to call them on it. How long are they going to "assess options" Im not a lawyer so I dont know if this can be legally challenged but it seems if it can this is the time to do it.

Sure, it can be challenged in court. BUT, it will require deep pockets.
I don't think the County would win. The State has already advised them to reconsider its property tax policy (which is at major variance with all other Hawaii counties) . Which is why ARDA includes the threat of legal action in its boilerplate.

ARDA will not go there, IMO. Developers have future fish to fry with the County Council, and don't want to poison the water. Pragmatic long term self-interest. The County Council knows this as well.

ARDA will actively lobby the Council, and rally owner sentiment, because higher taxes make developer sales more difficult, and increase costs. To the extent these efforts produce small temporary victories, timeshare owners also benefit.

 

[jarta]

Sure, it can be challenged in court. I don't think the County will win. The State has already advised them to reconsider its property tax policy (which is at major variance with all other Hawaii counties) . Which is why ARDA includes the threat of legal action in its boilerplate.
BUT, it will require deep pockets.

ARDA will not go there, IMO. Developers have future fish to fry with the County Council, and don't want to poison the water. Pragmatic long term self-interest.

Fredm, ... A review of decisions by the SCOTUS on the subject of discriminatory taxation by States and the Equal Protection Clause:

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/constitution/amendment14/21.html

I litigate property taxes for a living. It would be long, hard (but not entirely impossible) litigation to pursue the Maui tax rate classification system.

Federal courts are prohibited from interfering by granting an injunction in State taxation as long as the taxpayer has a "plain, speedy and efficient" remedy for raising federal constitutional issues in State court.

State court judges adjudicating the "plain, speedy and efficient" State remedy seem to feel that if they find a tax to be a violation of Equal Protection Clause a deduction will be made from their next paycheck. So they usually say, after verbal soul-searching and hand-wringing (lol!), that suspect classifications are not too arbitrary and they pass muster. And, then the SCOTUS usually refuses to take the appeal because it finds no substantial federal question is raised by the State court opinion. Salty

 

[siesta]

whoa ... when did jarta learn how to use the quote button?

 

[jarta]

siesta, ... Always knew how to push the button. Just preferred not to quote every part of every post I respond to.

Decided to try something else when I decided that if I didn't, I'd get further comments. Seems like I can't avoid the comments.

So, no quote for you - at all!

And, I'll do it various ways from now on. Should how much a wise guy the poster is determine how much gets quoted? Salty

 

[K2Quick]

Here we go again. The Mayor of Maui has proposed a 7 percent increase in prop taxes for time share on Maui. This would take the rate from 15.00 to 16.50.

Isn't that a 10% increase or am I missing something?

 

[saluki]

siesta, ... Always knew how to push the button. Just preferred not to quote every part of every post I respond to. Salty

Jarta aka Salty - just delete the non-pertinent part of the original post that you don't want displayed again. It's definitely easier to follow things with the quote feature.

 

[LisaRex]

Christ on a cracker. They increased the rental car taxes as well. Do they think that Maui is the only tourist destination on Earth?

 

[alohakevin]

Isn't that a 10% increase or am I missing something?

K2that should have read 1.15 increase from 15.00 to 16.15. Good eye thanks for pointing that out. Thats what I get for not proof reading sorry about that. As Jarta pointed out its actually a 7.7 percent increase vs a 7 percent increase as I stated in previous post.

 

[jarta]

Jarta aka Salty - just delete the non-pertinent part of the original post that you don't want displayed again. It's definitely easier to follow things with the quote feature.

saluki, ... I hope you understand the only real difference between my quoting only part of the post I'm responding to by highlighting and using cut and paste and your pushing the TUG Quote Button and then erasing the non-pertinent part of my original post is ...



the pretty blue box. Salty

 

[K2Quick]

K2that should have read 1.15 increase from 15.00 to 16.15. Good eye thanks for pointing that out. Thats what I get for not proof reading sorry about that. As Jarta pointed out its actually a 7.7 percent increase vs a 7 percent increase as I stated in previous post.

No problem Kevin. If I didn't have jarta ignored, I would have already seen the correction.

 

[saluki]

saluki, ... I hope you understand the only real difference between my quoting only part of the post I'm responding to by highlighting and using cut and paste and your pushing the TUG Quote Button and then erasing the non-pertinent part of my original post is ...



the pretty blue box. Salty

That plus the part where it is a much quicker read as a quote...

But, hey, it's your finger. Push whatever button you like.

 

[RLG]

Decided to try something else when I decided that if I didn't, I'd get further comments.

Thank you.

I think using the conventional method of quoting is a big improvement since it's much easier to see who/what you're quoting.

 

[DeniseM]

Email from Starwood:

Dear Ocean Resort Villas Owner,

This is to inform you of the recent fiscal year budget proposal by Maui County Mayor, Alan Arakawa, to increase the property tax rate paid by timeshare owners. If passed, the new tax rate will take effect July 1, 2012. The Mayor's office insists the tax increase will be "revenue neutral"; however, the proposal represents a 7.7% increase to the timeshare tax rate - bringing the overall rate from the current $15.00 per thousand to a proposed $16.15. This continues the practice of taxing timeshare owners at a significantly higher tax rate than any other type of landowner.

As we did successfully last year, your Board of Directors, Management Company, and American Resort Development Association-Resort Owners Coalition (ARDA-ROC) are working to defeat or minimize this proposed increase. We will be meeting with Maui County Council members and the Mayor's office in an attempt to roll-back the proposed increase and obtain more details about the proposal. Ultimately, it will be the members of the Maui County Council who will either accept the Mayor's initial proposal or adopt a different timeshare tax rate. Once we have more information, we will provide you with further updates and details on how you may help communicate your opposition.

To receive additional updates about this matter, you may visit the ARDA-ROC website at: http://www.ardaroc.org/roc/legislative-issues/issues.aspx?id=3464

We invite owners either visiting on island or residing in Maui County to attend the hearing listed below to express your concerns in person.

Budget and Finance Committee Hearings

April 11 - 6:00 p.m. Lahaina Civic Center, Social Hall, 1840 Honoapiilani Hwy., Lahaina, HI (808) 270-7838

Thank you for your support on this most urgent matter.

 

[DeniseM]

If anyone cares, here is another way to post a quote:

1) Copy and paste the desired text

2) Type the following at the beginning and end - remove blank spaces - I had to put them in so the Vboard code would show:

[ quote] text goes here [ /quote]

If you hunt and peck, this probably won't be of help to you. If you are a touch typist, it's pretty fast.

 

[Ken555]

Christ on a cracker. They increased the rental car taxes as well. Do they think that Maui is the only tourist destination on Earth?

Where did you find this info? How high is it now?

Last year I rented via priceline and paid almost exactly in taxes (about $0.40 difference) as I did in the rental fees itself.

 

[Kauai Kid]

Surely the value of Maui timeshares has decreased. I got a 2 br 2 bath every year Maui Schooner for $1 on ebay

I'm guessing the county doesn't see it that way.

Sterling

 

[aeroflygirl]

... Last time they mentioned that they were bombarded by emails from timeshare owners.

Here is a direct link to the council members: http://www.co.maui.hi.us/index.aspx?nid=158

Here are some more email links - including the mayor's - http://www.co.maui.hi.us/Directory.aspx?did=90

indent]

Gee, since timeshare owners are obviously a boundless source of cash, maybe we could share that wealth and bequeath all our timeshares EVERYWHERE to them.:hysterical:

 

[LisaRex]

Where did you find this info? How high is it now?

It's 40-50% of the total cost, from my calculations.

Hawaii

"Effective July 1, 2011 the Hawaii State rental motor vehicle surcharge tax will increase from $3/day to $7.50/day. This rate will be in effect from July 1, 2011 until June 30, 2012, at which time the rental motor vehicle surcharge tax will revert back to $3/day barring any further legislations.

Unfortunately this will come as an unwelcomed surprise for most customers as the car rental companies have not yet included this significant tax increase in their cost estimates and rental confirmation notifications as the bill was only signed by Governor Neil Abercrombie on June 9, 2011.

Ref: DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 2011-08 http://www.state.hi.us/tax/announce/ann11-08.pdf"

http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/news/134.htm