REPORT TITLE:
GET/Use taxes; Aircraft Leases


DESCRIPTION:
Exempts from the general excise tax, amounts received as rent for
the rental or leasing of aircraft or aircraft engine used by
lessees or renters for interstate air transportation of
passengers and goods.  Clarifies the existing use tax exemption
with regard to the acquisition or importation of the leasing or
renting of any aircraft or aircraft engine by any lessee or
renter engaged in interstate air transportation.  (HB2794 HD2)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2794
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT
RELATING TO TAXATION.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the geographical
 
 2 nature of Hawaii is unique in that it is comprised of separate
 
 3 and distinct islands, and therefore travel among these islands is
 
 4 dependent solely on the availability of commercial modes of
 
 5 transportation, primarily air travel.
 
 6      The legislature further finds that the interisland
 
 7 transportation needs of Hawaii's residents, as well as those
 
 8 tourists who wish to experience the beauty of each island, are
 
 9 currently served by the commercial air carriers that provide
 
10 frequent, affordable, and necessary means of intrastate
 
11 transportation to Hawaii residents and tourists alike, thus
 
12 differentiating these air carriers by the necessary service they
 
13 provide.
 
14      The legislature finds that Hawaii is currently served by two
 
15 major interisland air carriers that have made, and will continue
 
16 to make, capital investments to assure that Hawaii residents
 
17 continue to be best served in their interisland transportation
 
18 needs.  In addition, the service provided by these two
 
19 interisland carriers also provides a necessary service to
 

 
Page 2                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 Hawaii's tourists and supports the tourism market on each major
 
 2 island.
 
 3      The purpose of this Act is to provide a general excise tax
 
 4 exemption for any amounts received as rent for the rental or
 
 5 leasing of aircraft or aircraft engine used for interisland air
 
 6 transportation of passengers and goods and to clarify the
 
 7 existing use tax exemption.
 
 8      SECTION 2.  Section 237-24.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 9 amended to read as follows:
 
10      "§237-24.3  Additional amounts not taxable.  In addition to
 
11 the amounts not taxable under section 237-24, this chapter shall
 
12 not apply to:
 
13      (1)  Amounts received from the loading, transportation, and
 
14           unloading of agricultural commodities shipped for a
 
15           producer or produce dealer on one island of this State
 
16           to a person, firm, or organization on another island of
 
17           this State.  The terms "agricultural commodity",
 
18           "producer", and "produce dealer" shall be defined in
 
19           the same manner as they are defined in section 147-1;
 
20           provided that agricultural commodities need not have
 
21           been produced in the State;
 
22      (2)  Amounts received from sales of:
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           (A)  Intoxicating liquor as the term "liquor" is
 
 2                defined in chapter 244D;
 
 3           (B)  Cigarettes and tobacco products as defined in
 
 4                chapter 245; and
 
 5           (C)  Agricultural, meat, or fish products grown,
 
 6                raised, or caught in Hawaii, to any person or
 
 7                common carrier in interstate or foreign commerce,
 
 8                or both, whether ocean-going or air, for
 
 9                consumption out-of-state on the shipper's vessels
 
10                or airplanes;
 
11      (3)  Amounts received by the manager or board of directors
 
12           of:
 
13           (A)  An association of apartment owners of a
 
14                condominium property regime established in
 
15                accordance with chapter 514A; or
 
16           (B)  A nonprofit homeowners or community association
 
17                incorporated in accordance with chapter 415B or
 
18                any predecessor thereto and existing pursuant to
 
19                covenants running with the land[,];
 
20           in reimbursement of sums paid for common expenses;
 
21      (4)  Amounts received or accrued from:
 
22           (A)  The loading or unloading of cargo from ships,
 
23                barges, vessels, or aircraft, whether or not the
 

 
Page 4                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                ships, barges, vessels, or aircraft travel between
 
 2                the State and other states or countries or between
 
 3                the islands of the State;
 
 4           (B)  Tugboat services including pilotage fees performed
 
 5                within the State, and the towage of ships, barges,
 
 6                or vessels in and out of state harbors, or from
 
 7                one pier to another; and
 
 8           (C)  The transportation of pilots or governmental
 
 9                officials to ships, barges, or vessels offshore;
 
10                rigging gear; checking freight and similar
 
11                services; standby charges; and use of moorings and
 
12                running mooring lines;
 
13      (5)  Amounts received by an employee benefit plan by way of
 
14           contributions, dividends, interest, and other income;
 
15           and amounts received by a nonprofit organization or
 
16           office, as payments for costs and expenses incurred for
 
17           the administration of an employee benefit plan;
 
18           provided that this exemption shall not apply to any
 
19           gross rental income or gross rental proceeds received
 
20           after June 30, 1994, as income from investments in real
 
21           property in this State; and provided further that gross
 
22           rental income or gross rental proceeds from investments
 
23           in real property received by an employee benefit plan
 

 
Page 5                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           after June 30, 1994, under written contracts executed
 
 2           prior to July 1, 1994, shall not be taxed until the
 
 3           contracts are renegotiated, renewed, or extended, or
 
 4           until after December 31, 1998, whichever is earlier.
 
 5           For the purposes of this paragraph, "employee benefit
 
 6           plan" means any plan as defined in section 1002(3) of
 
 7           title 29 of the United States Code, as amended;
 
 8      (6)  Amounts received for purchases made with United States
 
 9           Department of Agriculture food coupons under the
 
10           federal food stamp program, and amounts received for
 
11           purchases made with United States Department of
 
12           Agriculture food vouchers under the Special
 
13           Supplemental Foods Program for Women, Infants and
 
14           Children;
 
15      (7)  Amounts received by a hospital, infirmary, medical
 
16           clinic, health care facility, pharmacy, or a
 
17           practitioner licensed to administer the drug to an
 
18           individual for selling prescription drugs or prosthetic
 
19           devices to an individual; provided that this paragraph
 
20           shall not apply to any amounts received for services
 
21           provided in selling prescription drugs or prosthetic
 
22           devices.  As used in this paragraph:
 

 
 
 
Page 6                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           (A)  "Prescription drugs" are those drugs defined under
 
 2                section [[]328-1[]] and dispensed by filling or
 
 3                refilling a written or oral prescription by a
 
 4                practitioner licensed under law to administer the
 
 5                drug and sold by a licensed pharmacist under
 
 6                section 328-16 or practitioners licensed to
 
 7                administer drugs; and
 
 8           (B)  "Prosthetic device" means any artificial device or
 
 9                appliance, instrument, apparatus, or contrivance,
 
10                including their components, parts, accessories,
 
11                and replacements thereof, used to replace a
 
12                missing or surgically removed part of the human
 
13                body, which is prescribed by a licensed
 
14                practitioner of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry
 
15                and which is sold by the practitioner or which is
 
16                dispensed and sold by a dealer of prosthetic
 
17                devices; provided that "prosthetic device" shall
 
18                not mean any auditory, ophthalmic, dental, or
 
19                ocular device or appliance, instrument, apparatus,
 
20                or contrivance;
 
21      (8)  Taxes on transient accommodations imposed by chapter
 
22           237D and passed on and collected by operators holding
 
23           certificates of registration under that chapter;
 

 
Page 7                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (9)  Amounts received as dues by an unincorporated merchants
 
 2           association from its membership for advertising media,
 
 3           promotional, and advertising costs for the promotion of
 
 4           the association for the benefit of its members as a
 
 5           whole and not for the benefit of an individual member
 
 6           or group of members less than the entire membership;
 
 7           [and]
 
 8     (10)  Amounts received by a labor organization for real
 
 9           property leased to:
 
10           (A)  A labor organization; or
 
11           (B)  A trust fund established by a labor organization
 
12                for the benefit of its members, families, and
 
13                dependents for medical or hospital care, pensions
 
14                on retirement or death of employees,
 
15                apprenticeship and training, and other membership
 
16                service programs.
 
17           As used in this paragraph, "labor organization" means a
 
18           labor organization exempt from federal income tax under
 
19           section 501(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code, as
 
20           amended[.]; and
 
21     (11)  Amounts received as rent for the rental or leasing of
 
22           aircraft or aircraft engine used by the lessees or
 
23           renters for interstate air transportation of passengers
 

 
Page 8                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           and goods.  For purposes of this section, payments made
 
 2           pursuant to a lease shall be considered rent regardless
 
 3           of whether the lease is an operating lease or a
 
 4           financing lease."
 
 5      SECTION 3.  Section 238-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 6 amended by amending the definition of "use" to read as follows:
 
 7      ""Use" (and any nounal, verbal, adjectival, adverbial, and
 
 8 other equivalent form of the term) herein used interchangeably
 
 9 means any use, whether the use is of such nature as to cause the
 
10 property or services to be appreciably consumed or not, or the
 
11 keeping of the property or services for such use or for sale, and
 
12 shall include the exercise of any right or power over tangible or
 
13 intangible personal property incident to the ownership of that
 
14 property, but the term "use" shall not include:
 
15      (1)  Temporary use of property, not of a perishable or
 
16           quickly consumable nature, where the property is
 
17           imported into the State for temporary use (not sale)
 
18           therein by the person importing the same and is not
 
19           intended to be, and is not, kept permanently in the
 
20           State (as for example without limiting the generality
 
21           of the foregoing language:
 
22           (A)  In the case of a contractor importing permanent
 
23                equipment for the performance of a construction
 

 
Page 9                                                     2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                contract, with intent to remove, and who does
 
 2                remove, the equipment out of the State upon
 
 3                completing the contract;
 
 4           (B)  In the case of moving picture films imported for
 
 5                use in theaters in the State with intent or under
 
 6                contract to transport the same out of the State
 
 7                after completion of such use; and
 
 8           (C)  In the case of a transient visitor importing an
 
 9                automobile or other belongings into the State to
 
10                be used by the transient visitor while therein but
 
11                which are to be used and are removed upon the
 
12                transient visitor's departure from the State);
 
13      (2)  Use by the taxpayer of property acquired by the
 
14           taxpayer solely by way of gift;
 
15      (3)  Use which is limited to the receipt of articles and the
 
16           return thereof, to the person from whom acquired,
 
17           immediately or within a reasonable time either after
 
18           temporary trial or without trial;
 
19      (4)  Use of goods imported into the State by the owner of a
 
20           vessel or vessels engaged in interstate or foreign
 
21           commerce and held for and used only as ship stores for
 
22           the vessels;
 

 
 
 
Page 10                                                    2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (5)  The use or keeping for use of household goods, personal
 
 2           effects, and private automobiles imported into the
 
 3           State for nonbusiness use by a person who:
 
 4           (A)  Acquired them in another state, territory,
 
 5                district, or country;
 
 6           (B)  At the time of the acquisition was a bona fide
 
 7                resident of another state, territory, district, or
 
 8                country;
 
 9           (C)  Acquired the property for use outside the State;
 
10                and
 
11           (D)  Made actual and substantial use thereof outside
 
12                this State;
 
13           provided that as to an article acquired less than three
 
14           months prior to the time of its importation into the
 
15           State it shall be presumed, until and unless clearly
 
16           proved to the contrary, that it was acquired for use in
 
17           the State and that its use outside the State was not
 
18           actual and substantial;
 
19      (6)  The leasing or renting of any aircraft or the keeping
 
20           of any aircraft solely for leasing or renting to
 
21           lessees or renters using the aircraft for commercial
 
22           transportation of passengers and goods[;], or the
 
23           acquisition or importation of any such aircraft or
 
24           aircraft engine by any lessee or renter engaged in
 

 
Page 11                                                    2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           interstate air transportation.  For purposes of this
 
 2           section, "leasing" shall include all forms of lease,
 
 3           regardless of whether the lease is an operating lease
 
 4           or a financing lease.
 
 5      (7)  The use of oceangoing vehicles for passenger or
 
 6           passenger and goods transportation from one point to
 
 7           another within the State as a public utility as defined
 
 8           in chapter 269;
 
 9      (8)  The use of material, parts, or tools imported or
 
10           purchased by a person licensed under chapter 237 which
 
11           are used for aircraft service and maintenance, or the
 
12           construction of an aircraft service and maintenance
 
13           facility as those terms are defined in section
 
14           237-24.9; and
 
15      (9)  The use of services imported for resale to a foreign
 
16           customer located outside the State to the extent the
 
17           services are resold, consumed, or used by that foreign
 
18           customer outside the State pursuant to section
 
19           237-29.53(a).
 
20      With regard to purchases made and distributed under the
 
21 authority of chapter 421, a cooperative association shall be
 
22 deemed the user thereof."
 

 
 
 
Page 12                                                    2794
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 2 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 3      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.