The Value of Properties is determined by annual assessment of fair market value.
Property taxes are assessed on 100% of market value
Property Owners living on their property can request an exemption deduction of $80,000, $120,000 if over 65.
other exemptions include: Historic Residential, low and moderate income rental housing, military off-base, deaf, blind, church, Hawaiian home lands, etc..
Each County has different property tax rates
Current Honolulu County rates per $1,000 net taxable property:
1 Residential $ 3.50
3 Commercial 12.40
4 Industrial 12.40
5 Agricultural 5.70
6 Preservation 5.70
7 Hotel and Resort 12.40
9 Public Service 0.00
0 Vacant Agricultural 8.50
Non-Residential Taxes
Mayor Caldwell proposal:
Create new property classification “Residential A” for luxury homes valued over $1 million that don’t claim homeowners exemption at rate of $5.50/$1,000. (wouldn’t hurt local luxury home residents)
Should generate $26.4 million in revenue over 7,300 of these properties
Hotels and Timeshares and IVUs:
Military rentals and tax rates for off-base military housing.
Various Taxes
Some taxes are regressive (ex: fuel, waste disposal)
Other taxes, while somewhat regressive, can be used to support desirable social policy:
Water
Raise rates on commercial users (ex: private golf courses)
Raising rates on residential users as part of a sustainability policy
Sewage
Two rates: base rate and usage rate for commercial/residential
The GET and the County Surcharge
The County Surcharge is 0.5% in addition to the GET tax of 4%, only applies to Oahu transactions, and was implemented in 2007 to pay for the Rail.
The GET tax is a 4% state tax on business’ taxable revenue, that is usually passed onto consumers at the legally allowed limit of 4.712%, often incorrectly called a “sales tax”. The tax rate is
.15% for Insurance Commission,
.50% for Wholesaling, Manufacturing, Producing, Wholesale Services, and Use Tax on Imports For Resale (AKA the “Use Tax”)
and 4% for all others
GET is a regressive tax since it doesn’t exclude food and medical services
GET adds expense at every transaction, a cumulative effect, “double-dipping”
GET and Use Tax generate roughly half of the state’s tax income $2.5 billion in FY2011
Individual and corporate income taxes, tobacco and liquor taxes and the Transient Accommodations Tax also help fill the state’s general fund.