The 4.712% you see on Hawaii receipts is not a sales tax. Hawaii doesn’t have one. What you’re paying is a pass-through of the state’s General Excise Tax (GET), which is charged to businesses on their gross income. Because the tax itself becomes part of that gross income, businesses gross up the statutory 4.5% rate to 4.712% so the amount they collect from you fully covers what they owe the state.
Where the 4.712% Number Comes From
The statutory GET rate on retail sales is 4% at the state level, plus a 0.5% county surcharge, for a combined 4.5%. If a business simply added 4.5% to a $100 sale and collected $104.50, it would still owe GET on the entire $104.50, not just the $100. The tax due would be $4.7025, and the business would come up about 20 cents short on every $100 of sales.
To close that gap, businesses use a grossed-up rate. Dividing 0.045 by (1 − 0.045) gives 0.047120, or 4.712%. Charging that on the pre-tax price generates exactly enough to cover the full GET liability on the whole receipt. The Hawaii Department of Taxation (DOTAX) officially lists 4.7120% as the maximum pass-on rate in all four counties through 2030.1Hawaii Department of Taxation. County Surcharge on Hawaii General Excise Tax
Businesses aren’t required to pass the GET along, and they can pass on less than the maximum. Most charge the full 4.712% because absorbing it directly cuts into their margin.
Why It’s Not Legally a Sales Tax
A sales tax is collected from the buyer at the register and forwarded to the state. The GET is different. It’s a privilege tax on the gross income of every business operating in Hawaii, owed by the business itself. It applies to product sales, service fees, rent, commissions, and interest income, with no deductions for wages, materials, or operating costs. If money comes into the business, GET applies.
Businesses are allowed to itemize the cost on receipts, and nearly all of them do, which is why it feels like a sales tax at checkout. Legally, though, the taxpayer is the business, not you.
The 4.5% Statutory Rate Applies Statewide
The state GET rate is 4% on retail sales, services, contracting, commercial rentals, commissions, and amusements. A lower 0.5% rate applies to wholesale transactions and manufacturing for resale.
On top of the 4% retail rate, each of Hawaii’s four counties has adopted a 0.5% surcharge. As of 2026, all four are in effect and all run through December 31, 2030:
- Honolulu (Oahu): effective January 1, 2007
- Kauai: effective January 1, 2019
- Hawaii County (Big Island): effective January 1, 2020
- Maui: effective January 1, 2024
DOTAX collects the surcharge and remits it to each county, retaining 1% of gross proceeds for administrative costs.2Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 248-2-6 – County Surcharge on State Tax; Disposition of Proceeds Honolulu’s share is earmarked for its mass transit fund.3Department of Taxation. County Surcharge on General Excise and Use Tax Because every county now imposes the full 0.5%, the 4.712% effective rate applies everywhere in Hawaii through at least 2030.
What the 4.712% Applies To
The GET reaches far more than a mainland sales tax does. Expect the 4.712% line item on things that are untaxed in most other states.
Groceries are fully taxable. Hawaii applies the full rate to food purchased for home consumption, with no reduced rate or exemption.4Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax (GET) Information Every supermarket receipt will show the pass-on.
Professional and personal services are taxed at the same rate. That covers medical and dental care, legal fees, accounting, haircuts, and auto repair.5Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 237-13 – Imposition of Tax Doctors and dentists routinely add the 4.712% to patient bills.6State of Hawaii, Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax on Medical and Dental Services
Rent falls within GET too. Commercial landlords pay the 4% rate, and residential landlords currently owe a lower rate. Construction contracting, commissions, and business interest income are also in scope.5Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 237-13 – Imposition of Tax
What’s Exempt
The GET does carve out a few categories:
- Prescription drugs sold by licensed pharmacies, hospitals, and authorized practitioners are exempt. Over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements don’t qualify.7Hawaii.gov. Exemption From the General Excise Tax for Amounts Received for the Sale of Prescription Drugs and Prosthetic Devices
- Starting January 1, 2026, healthcare providers are exempt from GET on amounts received under Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, including patient copayments under those programs. The change came from Act 47 of the 2024 Session Laws.6State of Hawaii, Department of Taxation. General Excise Tax on Medical and Dental Services8Hawaii.gov. Tax Information Release No. 2025-02
Clothing, personal services, and most other consumer purchases stay fully taxable. If you’re planning a trip or budgeting for life in Hawaii, work the 4.712% into nearly everything you spend.
The Real Burden Can Exceed 4.712%
The GET is levied at every stage of a transaction chain, so the same product can be taxed more than once before it reaches you. A farmer sells produce to a distributor at 0.5%, the distributor sells to a grocery store at 0.5%, and the store sells to you at 4% plus the county surcharge. Each business owes GET on its full gross receipts, including costs that already carry embedded GET from earlier stages.
The reduced 0.5% wholesale rate limits this pyramiding, but doesn’t eliminate it. Studies have estimated that the effective tax burden on consumers often exceeds the visible 4.712% once the embedded amounts are counted. That’s the core structural difference between the GET and a conventional sales tax collected only once at the final sale.
Buying From Out of State
Hawaii also imposes a use tax on goods and services purchased outside the state and brought in for use here. The use tax mirrors the GET rates, at 4% for personal-use imports and 0.5% for items imported for resale, and it exists so people can’t sidestep the GET by shopping on the mainland or online from unlicensed sellers.9Hawaii.gov (Department of Taxation). An Introduction to the Use Tax
If you occasionally import something for personal use, you can report and pay the use tax by filing Form G-26 or by sending a letter to DOTAX with your payment. It’s due by the 20th of the month after you bring the item into Hawaii. If you already paid sales or use tax to another state on the same purchase, you can claim a credit against what you owe Hawaii.9Hawaii.gov (Department of Taxation). An Introduction to the Use Tax