Earlier this month, a panel met to discuss the taxation of rentals, specifically how to protect property rights while making things fair between hotels and short-term rental homes. The discussion took place at the Realtors® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C and was written about in an article.
Matt Kiessling, who leads short-term rental policy for the Travel Technology Association, said, “What you shouldn’t do is ban people from doing what they want to do with their property, especially when they aren’t changing the use of that property.” According to Florida Realtors, Kiessling said his organization does not oppose taxing short-term rentals, but that regulations should not infringe upon property rights.
However, others say that high taxes of hotels make for unfair competition with short-term rentals. They say the taxes do not interfere with property rights.
According to the article by Florida Realtors, a central question around the debate is about the different way websites that facilitate short-term rentals operate. For example, some sites like Airbnb facilitate the entire process of finding and booking a place, while others are just for advertising properties.
The advertising-only websites “often don’t know if a property has even been booked, so the idea that they would be able to collect and remit taxes … is nearly impossible,” he said, suggesting that it should be up to the individual owners to pay taxes directly in some cases.
Brian Blaesser, who heads up the real estate development practice at Boston-based law firm Robinson & Cole feels as if local and state governments use taxes on short term rentals that end up crushing their business.
“You are running up against a fundamental issue here about what government can do,” Blaesser said. He warned real estate professionals to watch these restrictive trends closely. If they don’t, “you’re going to be pushed into a much more regulated environment.”
The regulation and taxation of rentals will continue to develop. Here at RE/MAX Paradise we have amazing rental properties available in Miami. Contact one of our agents today to inquire!