In Hawaii, New Tourism Tax Aims to Offset Costs of Climate Change
Goodbye, flight shaming—hello, “green fees.”
As Hawaii nears the second anniversary of the Maui fires—which scorched 17,000 acres of residential and commercial buildings, cultural landmarks and vegetation, causing $5.5 billion of damage—its government is turning to tourism to mitigate future climate-related disasters.
A new “green fee,” proposed by Governor Josh Green and passed through the legislature on May 2, is now the first of its kind in the country. It aims to raise some $100 million each year by marginally hiking tourism levies—from 10.25% to 11%—costing Hawaii’s 10 million annual tourists an average of $2 per day. And unlike most tourism taxes, which fund such infrastructure as roads and public transportation, the revenue raised through the green fee will go exclusively to environmental projects, be they beach and coral reef restoration efforts or the removal of fire-prone grasses.