Hawaii Becomes First State to Introduce a Climate Change Tax on Visitors

Hawaii Becomes First State to Introduce a Climate Change Tax on Visitors

On Tuesday, Democrat Governor of Hawaii Josh Green signed the first climate change tax in the United States into law.

The new law is deemed a “green fee.”

The green fee will be placed on Hawaii Island tourists.

The purpose of the green fee, as claimed by lawmakers, is to make tourists pay their share for their carbon footprint.

Governor Josh Green signed the law.

Governor Green stated, “It’s important so people see that where we have shoreline erosion near hotels, we’re able to protect these incredible assets.”

Governor Green further stated, “Where we have people being displaced, we’re able to help them, where we see sea level rise coming up, we can adapt and we can actually have these resources from the hard monies and also likely bonds from these dollars to help us go forward with large projects as the legislature sees fit as the people across our state express need.”

The new law will begin in January of next year (2026).

The new law consists of placing a 0.75% tax on visitors staying at hotels and rentals.

Per Hawaii News Now, Governor Josh Green signed into law the country’s first-ever lodging tax to get tourists to pay their share of the impacts of climate change.

State officials and environmentalists described the green fee as landmark legislation that other states can model for building disaster resiliency.

Starting January 1 (2026), visitors staying at Hawaii hotels and short-term rentals will have to pay an added 0.75% to the existing transient accommodations tax (TAT).

The new law will also apply to cruise ship passengers.

Cruise ship passengers will pay a prorated tax based on the number of days their cruise ship is in a Hawaii port.