Hawaii may charge tourists $25 ‘climate tax’ - NewsNation Now

Hawaii may charge tourists $25 ‘climate tax’ | NewsNation

( NewsNation) — Lawmakers in Hawaii are on the verge of passing a novel initiative: a $25 “climate tax” targeting tourists who flock to the Aloha State.

Well, it’s a novel initiative for the U.S., anyway. According to a report in The New York Post, Hawaii’s proposal to implement a tourist tax aligns with similar measures taken by other popular destinations worldwide. Greece, Italy’s Venice, the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Palau and New Zealand have all enacted similar fees aimed at tourists, with charges ranging from $1 to $100.

This approach reflects a growing trend among tourist hotspots to address the environmental and infrastructural strains caused by large numbers of visitors, according to the Post report.

The proposed tax will pay to protect beaches and prevent wildfires, such as the blaze that devastated Maui last year.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green campaigned on a platform of having all tourists pay a $50 fee to enter the state, but the proposal failed to gain the necessary votes in the state legislature.

“All I want to do, honestly, is to make travelers accountable and have the capacity to help pay for the impact that they have,” Green told the Associated Press last year.

“We get between nine and 10 million visitors a year, (but) we only have 1.4 million people living here. Those 10 million travelers should be helping us sustain our environment.”