Los Angeles loses $ 41 million annually in taxes from Airbnb

Photo: fortunebuilders.com

If landlords who rent property on the popular Airbnb website paid taxes like hotels, the city budget of Los Angeles would have been replenished with $ 41 million annually.

The figure of $ 41 million was obtained as a result of a study commissioned by American Hotel.

"Hotels must compete to provide the best experience for guests," said Vanessa Sinders, senior vice president of government relations for the trade group. “We welcome competition, but we want to make sure it is within the legal framework.”

Alison Schumer, an Airbnb spokeswoman, called the study "inaccurate" and said it was "designed to mislead and manipulate."

The problem is that part of the owners on the Airbnb website, turning their homes and apartments into hotels, rent them around the clock. However, they do not pay taxes and fees, and the condition of the premises does not always comply with safety requirements.

According to a recent study, in Los Angeles, about 22 percent of Airbnb operators rent out their apartments for an average of 180 days a year, 4 percent rent out their apartments for an average of 360 days a year.

The most popular steel rental areas are Venice, North Hollywood, Hollywood, the area around Silver Lake and Echo Park.

If everyone who leased their property paid taxes, travel fees, and estimated fees paid by hotels, Airbnb would replenish Los Angeles’s treasury by $ 41 million per year.

Also, the publication noted that over the past seven months, 2015, the number of ads on Airbnb increased by 42%.

The study was conducted by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania with the financial support of the American Hotel Association. Basically, it is concentrated in Los Angeles, but it is expected that similar studies will soon appear in other US cities.

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