I was profoundly dismayed to read in Saturday’s paper that 12.6% of homes in Hawaii are vacant (“Isle homeownership rate leads nation,” Star-Advertiser, June 3).

We are in a housing shortage crisis, and if homeowners choose to leave their properties empty they should be taxed at a drastically different rate than owner-occupied homes.

I know little about tax law, but we already have a resident homeowner tax exemption. Why not tax the owners of these vacant homes at top tax rates and designate the revenues solely to help resolve this crisis that continues to send longtime Hawaii residents fleeing to less expensive locales?

Let part of the problem become the solution.

Dale Moana Gilmartin

Manoa

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