Sales Tax in Hawaii
Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) is real and is legally and functionally NOT a sales tax -- it is a tax on business gross receipts, applied far more broadly across goods and services than a typical mainland sales tax, and this record discloses that structural distinction directly rather than treating GET as a sales-tax synonym, even as its genuinely low 4.5% combined statewide rate runs among the lowest headline consumption-tax rates of any US state.
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Learn moreGET is a gross-receipts tax on businesses, not a sales tax on consumers
Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) is a tax on business GROSS RECEIPTS that businesses are legally permitted to pass through to customers, applied far more broadly across goods AND services than a typical mainland sales tax (which commonly exempts groceries, many services, and business-to-business transactions). This record discloses that structural distinction directly: Hawaii's real effective consumer tax burden on everyday purchases runs higher than the low headline rate alone suggests, because GET's base is so much broader.
A real, current, now-uniform 4.5% combined rate in every county
The base GET rate is a real, current 4.0% statewide, and this pass's research verifies that, as of 2026, ALL FOUR Hawaii counties now levy the maximum 0.5% county surcharge on top of that base rate -- Oahu/Honolulu County's surcharge has run since January 1, 2007; Kauai County's since January 1, 2019; Hawaii County's (Big Island) since January 1, 2020; and Maui County's, the most recently adopted, since January 1, 2024 -- with every county's surcharge currently authorized through December 31, 2030. The real, current result: a uniform 4.5% combined GET rate in every county statewide, with businesses using the maximum authorized pass-on/gross-up mechanism able to charge consumers up to 4.712% on receipts.
Genuinely low on the headline rate -- but a real, broader base to weigh
This record applies a LOW_SALES_TAX tag on the strength of Hawaii's genuinely low 4.5% combined headline rate -- among the lowest combined consumption-tax rates of any state nationally. But this record discloses the GET's broader base as a real, material offsetting factor a prospective mover should weigh: because GET applies to services and business-to-business transactions that a typical sales tax exempts, Hawaii's consumption-tax burden is not uniformly low just because the headline rate is.
GET touches rent, too -- a genuinely distinctive Hawaii fact
Hawaii's GET applies to rental income landlords receive, and landlords may legally pass that cost through to tenants -- see the renting topic for how that shows up on a lease. This record discloses that as one concrete, everyday example of GET's broader base reaching transactions a typical mainland sales tax would not touch at all.
Key takeaways
- Hawaii's General Excise Tax (GET) is legally and functionally NOT a sales tax -- it taxes business gross receipts across a far broader base of goods and services, including rent.
- As of 2026, all four Hawaii counties levy the maximum 0.5% surcharge on top of the 4.0% base rate, producing a uniform 4.5% combined rate statewide.
- Businesses may pass GET through to consumers, with a maximum authorized pass-on/gross-up rate of 4.712% on receipts.
- GET's genuinely low 4.5% headline rate is real, but its much broader tax base is a real, material offsetting factor to weigh against a typical mainland sales tax's narrower base.
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