After testifying before committees at the State Legislature the last two months in support of keeping hotel-tax revenue in Maui County, Council Chair Danny A. Mateo announced today that he directly wrote to all 76 legislators to reiterate his position.
In the letter in which he e-mailed to legislators today, Mateo wrote: “This legislation (HB 1744) would unfairly and unwisely eliminate major funding to the counties at a time when we are addressing an economic downturn and corresponding loss of revenue in all of our major funding sources. . . Providing a portion of TAT revenues to the counties is well-justified considering our responsibility to perform functions that support the visitor industry.”
Tomorrow, the committee is to reconvene to decide if bill HB 1744 will move forward within the state legislature. The bill would restrict counties from receiving tax revenues from the hotel-room tax, officially known as the Transient Accomodations Tax (TAT).
In a time when local governments are without the appropriate funds to provide the infrastructure they need for their communities, Mateo believes these revenues from the TAT should go directly to the local governments to assist them. He also notes that the counties have minimal authority to generate revenue on its own, therefore limiting their ability to create the funds needed to support themselves.
Mateo said a proposed amendment to the bill to be considered on Friday would worsen the legislation by not only taking away the counties’ existing TAT revenue share, but also denying the counties the chance to recoup some of the losses by other means.
Mateo urged concerned members of the public to call or e-mail their State legislators and express opposition to HB 1744.
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Tags: Danny Mateo, HB 1744, Maui, Transient Accomodations Tax
