2024-03-31 PL-CCI-2024-000003 Bill 121 F. Finn Testimony

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Comments on Bill 122 Literally reading this bill made me ill, sick to my stomach and my heart pounding; that is how upsetting it is. It is another sucker punch to the working people who do the right thing, pay their taxes, hire people and pay them,take care of their properties and try to work to ensure their future and future retirement. You just keep adding more and more taxes with NO justification. First off-this bill was touted as only impacting those not regulated under Bill 108 (hosted), therefore, it is very confusing as to why it calls for"registering". Permitted STVRs have registered with the County to get the NCU permit; and are registered with the GET and TAT and County tax collection system. There is no valid reason to further invade our privacy rights by requiring yet another registration. Once Bill 108 went into effect, new unhosted permits were prohibited. I don't think this is right but it is in effect. So who exactly is supposed to paying the County$1000 for some "initial registration" and $500 for "initial NUC"?All legal NUC unhosted STVRs already did that and paid $500 and we currently pay another $250 every year. This is incidentally one of the most expensive STVR registration fees in the entire U.S. (see attachment). I do not understand who this is referring to but if it is intended to make current legal registered STVRs register again and pay as additional $1500 then this is patently wrong and cannot be implemented. We are supposed to pay another$500/year for the NCU permit?Absolutely no. Most other vacation places in the U.S. which require permits do not require annual renewals with fees. We are not rich people. We should not have to pay annual renewal fees of $500—we should not even be paying the current$250. The TAT + GET + County 3% already makes us the MOST expensive "hotel tax" in the United States. Yet every problem that arises in Hawaii the first thing legislators' propose is "increase the TAT". It is outrageous and egregious. You cannot keep applying this one size fits all method of regulating things. In Puna our STVRs charge around $120/night while those in Kohala charge $1700/night- we should be treated the same?We already have the highest"hotel' taxes in the United States at this time. Why are legislators continuing to blame the small business owners (STVRs) on the big island for all the ills on the island? STVRs provide a service to the visitors and to those they employ especially in areas like Puna where there are no hotels. Our home insurance rates on the big island have doubled for some, like myself, and others are unable to get insurance at all. Our property taxes increase every year. The cost to fly to Hilo gets more expensive and much less convenient with United Airlines no longer serving Hilo. The costs ("commissions") VRBO and AirBnB take from us increases every year. And now you want to put more of us out of business