Surcharge tax on tour vehicles; imposition and rates

There is levied on the tour vehicle operator, and assessed and collected each month, a tour vehicle surcharge tax for each tour vehicle used or partially used during the month at the rates set forth in section 251-2(b), HRS. (1) $65 each month for each tour vehicle that falls into the over twenty-five passenger seat category; and (2) $15 each month for each tour vehicle that falls into the eight to twenty-five passenger seat category. Example: ABC Bus Tours (ABC) owns ten buses that fall in the over twenty-five seat category and sells around-the-island tours on Hawaii. ABC also provides “as needed” transportation services AND CAR-SHARING VEHICLE SURCHARGE TAX to large groups. In January 1992, ABC conducts tours using five buses; uses one bus to transport one group of visitors that disembarked from a ship in Hilo to a luau and back to the ship; and does not use the remaining four buses, which are serviced that month. The tour vehicle surcharge tax for the month of January 1992 is imposed on six buses. Example: DEF Sightseeing (DEF) owns ten vans and minibuses with passenger capacities between eight to twenty-five persons. As part of a model transportation project, DEF agrees to use all of its vehicles to transport workers from neighborhood sites to central locations downtown in the morning and to return the workers back to the neighborhood sites in the early evening. The project lasts for one month. DEF also uses four of the vehicles in the evening to regularly transport tourists to places of interest. DEF uses the same vehicles each evening. One evening, however, one of the vehicles breaks down and DEF uses an alternate minibus for an hour. Because five of the vehicles only were used for commuting purposes, these are not subject to the surcharge tax for the month of the project. The surcharge tax is imposed on the other five vehicles — the four that were usually used in the evenings and the additional one used on the night of the breakdown. The total tour vehicle surcharge tax for the month is imposed on five minibuses.