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<br />March 30, 2017 <br /> <br />Dear Chair Luke, Vice Chair Cullen, and Members of the Committee on Finance: <br /> <br />RE: Comments on SB1290, HD1 Relating to the Transient Accommodations Tax. <br /> <br /> The Hawaii Council of Mayors (HCOM) urges the restoration of the provisions from <br />SB1290 SD2 that increases the allocation of transient accommodations tax (TAT) revenues to <br />the counties to a minimum of $108,000,000 to be shared at the current split. <br /> <br /> According to the Auditor's State-County Functions Working Group December 2015 <br />Report, the counties spent approximately $236 million on visitor-related expenses and this <br />number continues to grow. The visitor industry is particularly important for Kauai and Maui <br />counties, where on any given day, one in four persons is a visitor, but all the counties spend <br />significant amounts on visitor-related expenses. The $93,000,000 constitutes less than forty <br />percent of the counties' total visitor-related expenditures. <br /> <br /> HCOM urges you to recognize the counties' efforts toward ensuring that Hawaii remains <br />a world-class visitor destination by increasing the counties' share of the TAT to a minimum <br />$108,000,000 or removing the cap. Thank you for your consideration of this testimony. <br /> <br />Sincerely, <br /> <br /> <br />Harry Kim, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Mayor <br />County of Hawaii City and County of Honolulu <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Bernard Carvalho, Jr., Mayor Alan Arakawa, Mayor <br />County of Kauai County of Maui <br /> <br /> <br />Mayor William Kenoi Mayor Kirk Caldwell Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. Mayor Alan Arakawa <br />County of Hawaii City and County of Honolulu County of Kauai County of Maui <br />th <br />25 Aupuni Street 530 South King Street 4444 Rice Street 200 South High Street, 9 Floor <br />Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Lihue, Hawaii 96766 Wailuku, Hawaii 96793 <br /> <br />