TAXATION AND FINANCE

 

     Section 3.  The taxing power shall be reserved to the State, except so much thereof as may be delegated by the legislature to the political subdivisions, and except that all functions, powers and duties relating to the taxation of real property shall be exercised exclusively by the counties, with the exception of the county of Kalawao.  The legislature shall have the power to apportion state revenues among the several political subdivisions. [Ren and am Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]

 

Attorney General Opinions

 

  As section authorizes delegation of taxing power to political subdivisions, HRS §248-2, authorizing counties to set real property tax rate, is not in violation of Art. VI, §1.  Att. Gen. Op. 68-25.

 

Law Journals and Reviews

 

  Real Property Tax Litigation in Hawaii.  III HBJ No. 13, at pg. 57.

 

Case Notes

 

  Where city ordinance did not require that funds generated by a "convicted persons" charge be used to defray the city’s investigative and prosecutorial costs associated with the individual payor’s case, leaving open the possibility that the charge could be used for general revenue raising purposes, ordinance was not a "service fee" under §46-1.5(8), but a tax, which the State did not empower the city to impose; thus ordinance was invalid.  89 H. 361, 973 P.2d 736.

  Because this section and §246A-2 cover the whole subject of the counties’ real property taxation power and embrace the entire law on the matter, §248-2, by limiting Maui county’s real property taxation powers, is in conflict and is repealed by implication.  90 H. 334, 978 P.2d 772.

  Waiahole Ditch water use permittees being required to fund subsequent stream studies and monitoring activities was not an illegal "tax" where the studies directly benefited permittees by helping them prove as required under §174C-49 that their uses were "reasonable-beneficial" and "consistent with the public interest" and by also allowing them exclusive use of public resources in the interim, despite the present absence of such proof.  94 H. 97, 9 P.3d 409.

  The constitutional rule of tax immunity did not operate to immunize the State from the contractual obligations it voluntarily assumed through its leases to pay the real property taxes of its lessors.  99 H. 508, 57 P.3d 433.

  Cited:  73 H. 449, 834 P.2d 1302.