MEDIA RELEASE

The County of Hawai‘i is changing the way it charges a fee for delinquent payment of the vehicle weight tax.

Effective August 1, 2009, any vehicle weight tax imposed by Hawaii County Code section 24-17 for any year and not paid when due, shall become delinquent and a penalty of $8.00 for vehicles taxed at the passenger car rate and $20 for vehicles taxed at the commercial rate shall be added to, and become part of the tax collected. This is the same for both the County and State Vehicle Weight Tax Penalty. A vehicle assessed at the Passenger rate will pay a County Penalty of $8 and State Penalty of $8 for a total of $16 for each year delinquent. A vehicle assessed at the Commercial rate will pay a County Penalty of $20 and a State Penalty of $20 for a total of $40 for each year delinquent.

Beginning August 1, the combined county and state fees for delinquent weight tax payments will be $16 for passenger vehicles and $40 for commercial vehicles.

This will replace the current policy which was to calculate a percentage of the taxes due and add them to the total amount due as the penalties for delinquent payment of taxes.

Previously the County and State charged 10 percent of the amount owed on delinquent payments. The new county fee is roughly the same as the percentage previously charged in most cases.

For information, call the Vehicle Registration and License Division, 961-8351.