What happens if the Foundation sues? Then the State will go to court saying, “Judge, this pipsqueak foundation is just screeching in the wilderness.

The counties were being hurt, and what did the confiscation of TAT money have to do with our emergency? I was waiting for one of the counties to sue, and then argue to our Judiciary that the Governor went too far.

We suggested that this was government overreach. With tourist arrivals through the floor, there wasn’t a lot of TAT to go around anyway, but a small trickle is still more than a big fat zero. One thing he did about a year ago, which we wrote about here, is that he completely stopped sharing the Transient Accommodations Tax with the counties even though the Hawaii Constitution and the law provided for the sharing. Now, we are in the age of the pandemic, with the Governor flexing his emergency powers to suspend all kinds of laws on the books. We lost the suit in 2019, but in 2017 lawmakers changed the amount of the surcharge skim from 10% to 1%. Why hasn’t the City challenged it? Why hasn’t any other taxpayer challenged it? Why didn’t the Foundation challenge it in the last ten years if it was so bad?” This surcharge has been in place for a decade. When we filed suit, we faced court hearings where the State’s attorneys were sneering, “Judge, obviously there’s nothing here. Other private businesses were being hurt but didn’t take action. Remember back in 2015 when the Foundation filed its “Stop the Skim” lawsuit against the State because the State was scooping 10% of the Honolulu Rail surcharge? The City & County of Honolulu was being hurt but didn’t take action.

Land of the free and home of the brave