Maui Tomorrow’s Real Property Tax Revenue Estimator
We’re excited to share a new public tool that makes Maui County’s property tax system easier to understand, gives policymakers better information for decision-making, and gives residents a stronger, more informed way to take part in the budget conversation.
The Maui Real Property Tax Revenue Estimator is now live at: mauirptool.org
Property taxes fund many of the services we all rely on, including roads, fire protection, water systems, and more. They also affect housing costs, long-term rentals, visitor accommodations, and how the overall cost of County government is shared across residents, businesses, and the visitor industry.
For Fiscal Year 2026–27, real property taxes are expected to bring in about $660.3 million, which is roughly 40% of all County revenue.
That means decisions about property tax rates matter a lot. Each year, the Mayor proposes those rates, and the County Council reviews, adjusts, and approves them as part of the annual budget process. The Maui government must balance funding essential public services while also responding to the community’s immediate needs and long-term priorities.
A lot of people never get involved in property tax policy because it feels confusing, technical, or like something only accountants and government officials understand. But these decisions directly affect our housing costs, our neighborhoods, and our quality of life.
To help make the process more transparent and more useful, Maui Tomorrow developed the Maui Real Property Tax Revenue Estimator.
The tool allows users to adjust both tax rates and tier thresholds across all of Maui County’s twelve real property classes and immediately see the projected impact on total County revenue. In other words, it lets people test real “what if” scenarios and see how different choices affect both County funding and Maui residents.
Maui’s property tax system is unusually flexible because it can create different property classes and apply different tax rates across tiered value brackets within each class. Those tier thresholds determine how much different properties pay based on assessed value. Until now, the Council had tools that could adjust tax rates, but not meaningfully adjust those thresholds. That matters because changing thresholds can sometimes have an even bigger impact than changing the rates themselves. For the first time, our tool allows decision-makers and the public alike to test all the possibilities quickly, clearly, and with real numbers.
For example: What if long-term rentals were taxed more like owner-occupied homes? What if luxury hotels, short-term rentals, or non-owner-occupied rates increased slightly to make that possible? What if tier thresholds were adjusted so smaller local property owners paid less, while higher-value investment properties paid more?
During our March 3, 2026 presentation to the Maui County Council, we demonstrated how adjusting tier thresholds in the Non-Owner-Occupied class, without changing rates, could generate approximately $32 million in additional revenue, while preserving lower effective tax rates for smaller-value properties. This kind of scenario testing helps policymakers move beyond broad assumptions and evaluate real policy choices with precision.
The Council was impressed and decided to begin using the tool during this year’s budget review process, which means the tool is helping shape real decisions happening right now.
At the same time, the tool also gives Maui residents a practical way to participate. For example, if the community believes long-term rental owners should receive tax relief to help keep rents more stable for local families, residents can advocate for that through the public budget process using specific data. With the tool, we can show policymakers what that change could look like and test possible offsets, such as modest rate increases for luxury visitor accommodations and high-value second-and-third-home properties.
Instead of saying “housing needs to be more affordable,” we can now say, “Here is one specific way to do it.”
Maui Tomorrow built the estimator in collaboration with the County’s Real Property Assessment Division, and we’re grateful to Kari Stockwell, Helen Ho, Eddie Manzano, and Marcy Martin for their support and assistance with the official data used in the tool.
We also want to recognize Jasper Taylor of Pura Viba LLC, whose IT and database expertise made the estimator possible, along with the dedicated Maui Tomorrow Foundation team.
We invite residents and policymakers to explore the tool and be part of the conversation, because better policy starts with more transparency and better understanding.
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