NY Govt Wants Its Cut

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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May 18, 1997
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It seems as though New York State is not happy with not getting paid on AirBNB rentals. But wait! Don't we already pay property tax every year? It seems that NY is also blaming AirBNB for rental increases. OK, so let's think about this for a minute. AirBNB is very likely bringing in more tourist dollars and showing off your city, but is taking money out of the hands of huge hotel companies that cannot offer the same services. Can't have the state not getting its tax cut three layers deep. This stinks, smells like tea.
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"New York City renters had to pay an additional $616 million in 2016 due to price pressures created by AirBNB," the comptroller's report said.
 
airBnBs were once owned by owners wanting to make an extra buck renting out spare rooms...

that was probably 5 years ago.

now days, it all owned by profit oriented companies who want a cut of the hospitality industry without all the legal and regulatory hassles.

the higher rent goes, the higher they can charge. Unchecked capitalism at its best
 
DejaWiz said:
...the same kind of statism that festers the rise of socialism or communism.
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I think we can all agree that regulatory capture is bad, but I'm not sure what it has to do with socialism.

Also, I don't think that's how the word "festers" works.
 
theBrownLlama said:
airBnBs were once owned by owners wanting to make an extra buck renting out spare rooms...

that was probably 5 years ago.

now days, it all owned by profit oriented companies who want a cut of the hospitality industry without all the legal and regulatory hassles.
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You're making broad generalizations and speaking in half truths. Though, there are several cases of this being true...it isn't all true. AirBNB is still primarily what it started out to be.
 
Hotel taxes are pretty bullshit (especially if you've ever visited Arizona, wow do they love taxing visitors); but if your AirBNB operates like a hotel, it should pay hotel taxes.
 
bugleyman said:
I think we can all agree that regulatory capture is bad, but I'm not sure what it has to do with socialism.

Also, I don't think that's how the word "festers" works.

CptCabbit said:
I think that might've been an autocorrect for "fosters."

bugleyman said:
Ah...thanks. That makes much more sense now. Carry on. ;)
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Yes...typed "fosters" and didn't observe the DYAM occurrence. I edited my original post. Thanks for catching that!
 
toast0 said:
Hotel taxes are pretty bullshit (especially if you've ever visited Arizona, wow do they love taxing visitors); but if your AirBNB operates like a hotel, it should pay hotel taxes.
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Yup. Politicians love hotel taxes because their constituents don't have to pay them. Visitors basically have no say.

What's that called again? Oh right...taxation without representation. ;)
 
twonunpackmule said:
You're making broad generalizations and speaking in half truths. Though, there are several cases of this being true...it isn't all true. AirBNB is still primarily what it started out to be.
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Anecdotal for sure... but I went on a trip to Europe and used airBNB type services, 3 of them. 2 of the 3 were obvious full time airBNB type renters. 3rd not sure.

My position and opinion are exactly the same as with Lyft/Uber.

If these service providers is still under some form of "shared" classification (specifics to be determined)... aka mostly personal use but occasional rental. I am ALL for less taxes/regulation, handled similar to other personal services like garage sales, selling your chicken eggs etc.

Though there is a line where these services should be treated just like any other business in the field.

It's one thing to make a few extra $$$ renting out our place while away for the summer, its another entirely to rent it out 90% of the time.

It's one thing to use uber to ride share and make a little cash, its another to become a taxi.

I am all for reducing regulations etc but this is not the way to do it.
 
twonunpackmule said:
You're making broad generalizations and speaking in half truths. Though, there are several cases of this being true...it isn't all true. AirBNB is still primarily what it started out to be.
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Think it depends on where you are. I remember this exact topic coming up before as you had people buying up apartment complexes and putting them up on Airbnb to treat them as hotel rooms. You also had people that would own a home and not actually live in it but would use it as a rental home 365 days a year but treat it as a personal home for all tax reasons. I don't know of any hard numbers, but I recall it being made to sound like it was a decent percent (25%+)
 
New York has it's tax layers a dozen deep. They tax EVERYTHING, and they jail people harshly for even trying to avoid those taxes. That's why they were trying to arrest Eric Garner. People die every year over minor taxes in New York.
 
San Francisco hates AirBNB... which is ironic since their HQ is here. They try to pull the same shit about rental increases, and of course the rental people always get their arms up about it as well... like if every square inch of the city doesn't have a rental property available it's fucking contributing to a "housing crisis" , the city at the very least simply wants it's cut of a hotel tax. But I call absolute bullshit on their findings, 1% of AirBnB translates to a 1.6% increase in rent? Yeah... so how does that work out when there's a very long term AirBnB rental going on, aka an actual renter of that same property, I'd think you see the same. There's a property that is NOT available for rent as a result so you'll see the corresponding demand elsewhere.

Oh yeah and there's also one other aspect they tend to neglect, and that's most units in the city are under rent control ordinance so literally can not raise the rent just because you feel like the market (or your tenant) can bear that extra cost.
 
nutzo said:
Maybe there's a connection there :eek:
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The_chinese_connection_1972.jpg
 
umeng2002 said:
The government just protects who ever pays them off.
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Happening around here with Uber, where the city is actually trying to "revitalize" the taxi industry... translation: Ok you pay us a ton of money to try and protect your monopoly we'll help.
 
In Boston they are proposing a different approach, trying to limit how often any property can be used in an AirBnB per year. I forget what they were proposing, but I think a limit of three weeklong AirBnB stays per property per year would be appropriate

The reason being, there are too many investment properties driving housing costs sky-high, and not enough places for people to live. Even if you can afford the ridiculously large mortgage it would take to buy a home around here these days you can't, because investors swoop in with cash offers and the houses are off the market before you can even get your inspection scheduled.

I like the idea that if you want to own a property in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country, you should need to live in it at least 10 months out of the year. Or at least rent it to someone with a lease.

SOMETHING needs to be done about these investing scumbags.
 
sfsuphysics said:
San Francisco hates AirBNB... which is ironic since their HQ is here. They try to pull the same shit about rental increases, and of course the rental people always get their arms up about it as well... like if every square inch of the city doesn't have a rental property available it's fucking contributing to a "housing crisis" , the city at the very least simply wants it's cut of a hotel tax. But I call absolute bullshit on their findings, 1% of AirBnB translates to a 1.6% increase in rent? Yeah... so how does that work out when there's a very long term AirBnB rental going on, aka an actual renter of that same property, I'd think you see the same. There's a property that is NOT available for rent as a result so you'll see the corresponding demand elsewhere.

Oh yeah and there's also one other aspect they tend to neglect, and that's most units in the city are under rent control ordinance so literally can not raise the rent just because you feel like the market (or your tenant) can bear that extra cost.
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So what percentage of Airbnbs are "very long term" and if 1.6% is bullshit, what do you think is the correct number?
 
dgingeri said:
New York has it's tax layers a dozen deep. They tax EVERYTHING, and they jail people harshly for even trying to avoid those taxes. That's why they were trying to arrest Eric Garner. People die every year over minor taxes in New York.
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Unrelated to Airbnb, I worked in NY state last year for about a month total. I earned there approximately 7% of my gross for the year.

Their income tax law doesn’t just tax me on what I earned they take my gross to put me in the highest taxable bracket possible, figure out what I would owe if I had earned all of that in the state, and then kept the 7% they felt entitled to.

I don’t know maybe that’s normal, but Michigan and Ohio don’t do that with each other. It just annoys me that they put a non resident who was there a month into the highest bracket possible as opposed to the bracket my hourly rate put me in on each paycheck.
 
Lizard Testes said:
So what percentage of Airbnbs are "very long term" and if 1.6% is bullshit, what do you think is the correct number?
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The "very long term" was an inside way of saying there's not much difference between AirBNB and renting it to someone. It's something that's unavailable to others.
 
Gotta say that, especially with apartments, I really hate the idea of AirBnB. I don't like the idea of living next door to what is, in effect, a hotel room which means that a different person could be gaining access to my building and, perhaps more importantly, my shared walls every other day. It's not what most monthly renters or apartment home buyers should be forced to sign up for. For all the convenience of the service and the potential profit for an owner, it's a total screwjob for the neighbors.
 
I love AIRBNB . . . looking at using them for a Thailand trip. Great for business travel as well.
 
Airbnb is a boon for anyone that either builds luxury condo buildings (seems like every single thing nowadays ) or people that have multiple residences. I feel for the true mom and pop setups , those that either like to host or make some spare cash, but they will get squashed by the big players.
 
Nunu said:
Airbnb is a boon for anyone that either builds luxury condo buildings (seems like every single thing nowadays ) or people that have multiple residences. I feel for the true mom and pop setups , those that either like to host or make some spare cash, but they will get squashed by the big players.
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Which is exactly why this is an issue here. The taxing or lack thereof is because they are assuming it is being used for mom and pop setups. Original intent was you are going away for a few weeks and want to rent out your place during that time, or you have a spare area that you wanted to rent out for some major event like you live around the superbowl and wanted to rent out a spare room for a night. The fact that people like you mention at the start of your post exist now taxes and the way that these services are viewed are going to change to go after people like that more to treat them as what they really are.
 
I'd be pleased to see anything which makes airbnb less desirable and less likely to spread
 
twonunpackmule said:
You're making broad generalizations and speaking in half truths. Though, there are several cases of this being true...it isn't all true. AirBNB is still primarily what it started out to be.
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rather than my anecdotal experience, i'll just point you to the terminology of mega-operators, mega-hosts, super-hosts (those hosts with 6+ to 1000+- listings)

https://www.buzzfeed.com/venessawong/airbnb-mega-hosts?utm_term=.jpKAzQbqV#.or5EMnWob

which aligns with AirBnB trying to be a hotel chain
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/airbnb-expands-hotel-listings-announces-loyalty-program.html
 
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