A Tax on Airbnb? Mass. Guests Would Pay More

Boston, MA - Airbnb guests in Massachusetts could end up paying more, if a state proposal goes through.

As reported by Politico Massachusetts, Senators have tweaked a state economic development bill to apply a 5.7 percent hospitality tax to "transient accommodations" (aka Airbnb), bringing those taxes up to the same level as state hotels. The mobile app allows users to post their homes, apartments and rooms for paying guests to stay. That currently does not include state taxes, according to Airbnb's site.

The idea is to offset an increase in Massachusetts' earned income tax credit, pulling in between $13.4 million and $20.1 million annually, according to Politico.

A regional spokeswoman told Patch by email the company enthusiastically supports the measure, which it said means state residents "will now be able to reap the full financial benefits of the sharing economy."

"With the introduction of this innovative legislation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could gain as much as $20 million annually in additional tax revenue from the growing community of home sharers," she said.

According to Airbnb's site, 18 other states have some form of occupancy tax for Airbnb already on the books at a local or statewide level.

Airbnb hosts, according to the company's site, won't have to cover that increase. Rather, the app's users will pay more for their stay. Airbnb will calculate and collect applicable taxes, then get them to the government. Users will see a line item in the Airbnb listing's public page alerting them to the tax.

Airbnb did not immediately respond to request for comment on the Massachusetts proposal.

Senators have until 2 p.m. Wednesday to add any additional amendments to the $743.9 million economic development bill. The Senate will debate it on the floor Thursday.

>> Airbnb photo via Open Grid Scheduler, Flickr/Creative Commons

>> This story has been updated to include comments from Airbnb