Tax Exemption to be Lowered &
Property Tax Totals Up for Owner Occupants
The Maui County Council Budget & Finance Committee approved last Tues to look for revenue in the current Property Tax Homeowner Exemption. Currently resident owners are given a 300k deduction of the tax basis and a lower per $1000 rate for calculating their property taxes.
The rate recently went from $2.00 per 1000 to $2.50 per 1000.
Now the government is looking to the deduction portion and wants to lower the 300k to 200k.
Initially the 300k increase came about due to skyrocketing real estate prices on Maui. Now that we are back to pre increase for average sales prices they want to take that back down to the lower level. Maui currently has much higher exemption and rates than Oahu.
While good in theory I would argue that the job situation was a little different back then and people were not struggling so hard. We do have some of the lowest property tax rates in the nation and state so I would look for this to pass.
Aloha, Gina
