Advocates press for tax on real estate trusts

Community advocates for affordable housing and education squared off against the real estate trusts that own some of the most lucrative commercial properties in Hawaiʻi on Wednesday, with community activists urging state lawmakers to abolish a state tax break that benefits the trusts.

Entities known as real estate investment trusts own a number of landmark properties in Hawaiʻi such as Ala Moana Center and the International Market Place, and their structure as REITs allows them to avoid paying Hawaiʻi’s corporate income tax.

That galls advocates such as Hawaiʻi developer Peter Savio, who has urged lawmakers for several years to close the “tax loophole” that benefits REITs and their shareholders.