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. (SB2706 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2706
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 1
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 composed of separate and
 
 3 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 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 our 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 our residents continue
 
17 to be best served in their interisland transportation needs.  In
 
18 addition, the service provided by these two interisland carriers
 
19 also provides a necessary service to Hawaii's tourists and
 
20 supports the tourism market on each major island.
 

 
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 1      The purpose of this Act is to provide a general excise tax
 
 2 exemption for any amounts received as rent for the rental or
 
 3 leasing of aircraft or aircraft engine used for interisland air
 
 4 transportation of passengers and goods and to clarify the
 
 5 existing use tax exemption.
 
 6      SECTION 2.  Section 237-24.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 7 amended to read as follows:
 
 8      "§237-24.3  Additional amounts not taxable.  In addition to
 
 9 the amounts not taxable under section 237-24, this chapter shall
 
10 not apply to:
 
11      (1)  Amounts received from the loading, transportation, and
 
12           unloading of agricultural commodities shipped for a
 
13           producer or produce dealer on one island of this State
 
14           to a person, firm, or organization on another island of
 
15           this State.  The terms "agricultural commodity",
 
16           "producer", and "produce dealer" shall be defined in
 
17           the same manner as they are defined in section 147-1;
 
18           provided that agricultural commodities need not have
 
19           been produced in the State;
 
20      (2)  Amounts received from sales of:
 
21           (A)  Intoxicating liquor as the term "liquor" is
 
22                defined in chapter 244D;
 

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

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

 
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 1           prior to July 1, 1994, shall not be taxed until the
 
 2           contracts are renegotiated, renewed, or extended, or
 
 3           until after December 31, 1998, whichever is earlier.
 
 4           For the purposes of this paragraph, "employee benefit
 
 5           plan" means any plan as defined in section 1002(3) of
 
 6           title 29 of the United States Code, as amended;
 
 7      (6)  Amounts received for purchases made with United States
 
 8           Department of Agriculture food coupons under the
 
 9           federal food stamp program, and amounts received for
 
10           purchases made with United States Department of
 
11           Agriculture food vouchers under the Special
 
12           Supplemental Foods Program for Women, Infants and
 
13           Children;
 
14      (7)  Amounts received by a hospital, infirmary, medical
 
15           clinic, health care facility, pharmacy, or a
 
16           practitioner licensed to administer the drug to an
 
17           individual for selling prescription drugs or prosthetic
 
18           devices to an individual; provided that this paragraph
 
19           shall not apply to any amounts received for services
 
20           provided in selling prescription drugs or prosthetic
 
21           devices.  As used in this paragraph:
 
22           (A)  "Prescription drugs" are those drugs defined under
 
23                section [[]328-1[]] and dispensed by filling or
 

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

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

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

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

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

 
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 1           whether the lease is an operating lease or a financing
 
 2           lease;
 
 3      (7)  The use of oceangoing vehicles for passenger or
 
 4           passenger and goods transportation from one point to
 
 5           another within the State as a public utility as defined
 
 6           in chapter 269;
 
 7      (8)  The use of material, parts, or tools imported or
 
 8           purchased by a person licensed under chapter 237
 
 9           [which] that are used for aircraft service and
 
10           maintenance, or the construction of an aircraft service
 
11           and maintenance facility as those terms are defined in
 
12           section 237-24.9; and
 
13      (9)  The use of services imported for resale to a foreign
 
14           customer located outside the State to the extent the
 
15           services are resold, consumed, or used by that foreign
 
16           customer outside the State pursuant to section
 
17           237-29.53(a).
 
18      With regard to purchases made and distributed under the
 
19 authority of chapter 421, a cooperative association shall be
 
20 deemed the user thereof."
 
21      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
22 New statutory material is underscored.
 
23      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.