STAND. COM. REP. NO. 480

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1306

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Tourism and International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1306 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to permit a taxpayer who provides transient accommodations on real property leased from a related entity to claim a general excise tax deduction from the amount of gross proceeds or gross income received from its sublease of the real property.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Host Hotels & Resorts, L.P.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that fairness in taxation is key to good tax policy.  As raised in testimony, the parties involved in this measure are best suited to work out potential issues with this measure.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1306, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1306, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism and International Affairs,

____________________________

GILBERT KAHELE, Chair