Since the early 1960s, more than half a century ago, Hawaii has worried over whether it should tax tourists.
For much of that time, former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi was leading the charge. Every speech opened and ended with a call for either a tax on hotel rooms or charging visitors to come to Hawaii.
It was such a popular issue that every time they heard him speak, Fasi’s audiences would ask him to repeat his arguments just so they could listen to what they liked.
The warm welcome served to just harden the tourist and hotel industry’s opposition. The industry put up candidates to run against Fasi and to some extent, Fasi’s attempts to demonize the industry limited his own popularity as the industry cast Fasi as a disastrous choice for mayor or any other leadership position.
The end result was no Hawaii tourism tax — and while Fasi could run and win as mayor, he could go no further, being rejecting in repeated campaigns for governor.
All this is a prologue to a look at the current governor, Josh Green, and his own attempts to raise more money.
He is as popular as Fasi was argumentative, but neither smiles nor bombast shows Hawaii a way to tax tourists.
While Fasi would pick fights with the City Council and cut the budget as punishment, Green instead operates a “let’s both share” style of government.
While Fasi would name the hotel industry leaders in his speeches — not just to personalize them, but to make them villains in a plot to despoil Hawaii — Green avoids that fight. Demonizing your enemy only goes so far.
In contrast, Green casts himself as not fighting an evil oligarch, but instead, as saving the flowers and trees and Hawaii’s way of life.
“A climate impact fee on visitors would provide the needed resources to protect our environment and increase awareness of the impacts of climate change,” Green says.
“I believe this is not too much to ask of visitors to our islands … Hawaii’s natural resources — our beaches, forests and waterfalls — are an essential part of our culture and our way of life.”
Green’s call to tax tourists $25 upon arrival could generate more than $68 million in revenue each year, he estimated.
But with or without the bellicose fighting of Fasi, the tax opponents still won. Visitor industry leaders such as Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association CEO Mufi Hannemann offered up not a compromise solution, but enough argument to blunt Green’s effort.
Surprisingly, Green never offered up the argument that while Hawaii waits to get a share of the tourist money, much of the tourist economies around the globe are taxing tourists. From Japan to the Caribbean Islands to Bhutan, which gets $200 a day from visitors, going to another country costs extra.
There is obviously enough money to be found for pressing needs to repair the damage to Lahaina — but to just raise money for an unspecified government need, there is no pressing oomph.
In some ways, Green has still not shown the reason for a tourist tax — nor the muscle to push the issue forward.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
