The state’s general fund is projected to grow despite some incoming, major reductions to tax revenue.
A historic income tax break bill passed this year could cost the state more than $5.5 billion over the next six years. And starting in 2026, doctors will no longer have to pay the general excise tax on services for patients on Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.
Additionally, the state will have to spend about half a billion dollars on pandemic-related hazard pay.
Despite the changes, the state Council on Revenues still expects the general fund to grow by 3.5% during this fiscal year.
Carl Bonham, a council member and economist, said Maui tourism will end the year strongly as it begins to recover from last year’s fires.
"I think we're about to see the visitor industry of Maui and the state beginning to fill those rooms again," he said. "There wasn't any reason to do an advertising campaign when your hotel was half full of residents and workers, right. But that's changed.”
The council’s forecast is slightly higher than its revenue projection in May. That forecast came right after the end of the Legislative session.
