Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

But when Palm Beach County, Florida, a popular tourist destination, passed an ordinance in October 2018 requiring Airbnb and other short-term rental companies to collect and pay the county’s 6 percent occupancy tax on visits arranged through their sites, Airbnb sued. In Portland, site of the first agreement, city officials legalized home-sharing and lowered the registration fee for short-term rentals around the same time Airbnb agreed to add a 11.5 percent occupancy tax on each booking. Dan Bucks, former director of the Montana Department of Revenue and former executive director of the US Multistate Tax Commission, analyzed some of the few publicly available Airbnb agreements and found that most prevented city officials from learning the names or addresses of Airbnb hosts, making it impossible for officials to enforce local codes.

Source: www.wired.com