Hawaii's Tourist Climate Tax Should Be A Model For Other States

A .75% tax will not destroy Hawaii’s economy. But unchecked climate change will.

By Emily Atkin, Heated

Here’s something you don’t hear every day: A notable climate change law is about to be signed in the United States.

Hawaii state lawmakers on Friday approved what’s known as the “green fee,” a first-of-its-kind effort to charge visitors for climate adaptation efforts. Once signed into law by Gov. Josh Green, the green fee will raise Hawaii’s existing transient tax on hotel rooms, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations from 10.25 percent to 11 percent starting next year. Cruise ship passengers docked at Hawaiian ports will also be charged an 11 percent transient tax per night.

The increased revenue from that by .75 percent tax increase—expected to be about $100 million per year—will be earmarked specifically for projects like coral reef restoration; sand replenishment for eroding beaches; hurricane preparation; and removal of invasive grasses like the ones that fueled the deadly wildfires in Lahaina, according to the governor’s office.

“Given the devastation we saw on Maui in August of 2023, this measure is crucial because it will help us to deal with wildfire risk resulting from the climate change crisis,” Green said in a statement.

The measure is significant because it marks the first time a U.S. state has ever charged visitors for environmental conservation efforts. It also took years for activists to accomplish. “It’s something that people like me have been calling for for over a decade now, and started off as a pipe dream,” Kaniela Ing, a native Hawaiian organizer and national director of the Green New Deal Network, told HEATED. “It’s monumental, because it shows that the organizing has paid off.”