Tuesday, August 18, 1998
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Maui Mayor Linda Lingle, long an advocate of imposing the equivalent of the hotel room tax on vacation time-shares, didn't know that the Legislature had passed such a measure three months ago and that it was subsequently signed into law. Lingle was unaware
of time-share taxWhen she unveiled her blueprint for Hawaii last week, one of her initiatives was to restore the counties' share of the hotel room tax that had been cut under a new formula adopted by the Legislature. One of the ways she would do it, she said, would be by imposing a time-share tax to partly make up for the hotel room tax revenue that had been diverted for tourism marketing.
At first, she appeared unwilling to believe a newspaper reporter who said the time-share tax was now a reality. When a TV reporter confirmed that, Lingle asked how much the tax was supposed to bring in. Roughly $5 million, she was told.
Well, she said, the time-share tax that she envisioned would bring in more.
NO SAME SEX: Senate Education Co-Chairman Rod Tam wants to make it clear that he opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage, and that he will be voting "yes" on the proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Tam, a Roman Catholic, called a news conference yesterday to publicly declare his stand, since, he said, rumors had been spreading in his downtown-Nuuanu district that he was in favor of gay marriages.
Tam, who is running for re-election, said he does not know who is behind the rumors. "If I did practice same-sex marriage or was connected to it, my wife would leave me," said Tam, who has two children.
By Star-Bulletin staff