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You're correct, but AirBNB encourages people to run untaxed unlicensed hotels, so its even worse than an already terrible system.

by hobs 7y ago

dehrmann 7y ago
> untaxed Occupancy taxes actually really bother me because they're usually cash grabs targeting visitors who have no clout with the local officials that put it in place. It's taxation without representation, or a slightly different take on the speed trap on a major road through a drive-through small town.
- vorpalhex 7y ago
  Visitors are using public resources that are normally funded by taxes, and depending on the ratio of visitors to residents this can really turn out to be an unfair deal for residents - see any small coastal town whose population inflates 40% when it's tourist season. An occupation tax is because you're using public resources and don't normally pay taxes to that jurisdiction.
  - dehrmann 7y ago
    It depends. Cities tend to get income from sales, property, and income/payroll taxes. Some jurisdictions don't have all of those, but hotels pay property tax, visitors pay the sales tax, and as a second-order effect, jobs attributable to tourism pay income tax. It's not like visitors aren't paying taxes. You also didn't touch on how there's no electoral protections as a check on these taxes.
    - vorpalhex 7y ago
      Sales taxes and property taxes pay different things. Sales tax also affects residents more than tourists, and it'd be unfair to ramp it up to compensate for thousands of people descending on your town. There are electoral protections as a check - for the residents who live in the town. You're a visitor to a place, you don't get to change how it's run. If you don't like it, don't visit that place.
dehrmann 7y ago
> unlicensed Something Airbnb and Uber have shown is that licensing for these services is overkill. There are a handful of exceptions, but in general, anyone can do them safely enough. This isn't to say there shouldn't be any licensing, but that it can be lightweight.
save_ferris 7y ago
I think it's hard to argue that one system is objectively worse than the other when you're caught between entities avoiding taxes and licenses and entities that find ways to underpay workers that already don't make enough to live on. But I recognize that neither system is particularly constructive.

You're correct, but AirBNB encourages people to run untaxed unlicensed hotels, so its even worse than an already terrible system.

by hobs 7y ago

You're correct, but AirBNB encourages people to run untaxed unlicensed hotels, so its even worse than an already terrible system.

dehrmann 7y ago

> untaxed Occupancy taxes actually really bother me because they're usually cash grabs targeting visitors who have no clout with the local officials that put it in place. It's taxation without representation, or a slightly different take on the speed trap on a major road through a drive-through small town.

vorpalhex 7y ago
Visitors are using public resources that are normally funded by taxes, and depending on the ratio of visitors to residents this can really turn out to be an unfair deal for residents - see any small coastal town whose population inflates 40% when it's tourist season. An occupation tax is because you're using public resources and don't normally pay taxes to that jurisdiction.
- dehrmann 7y ago
  It depends. Cities tend to get income from sales, property, and income/payroll taxes. Some jurisdictions don't have all of those, but hotels pay property tax, visitors pay the sales tax, and as a second-order effect, jobs attributable to tourism pay income tax. It's not like visitors aren't paying taxes. You also didn't touch on how there's no electoral protections as a check on these taxes.
  - vorpalhex 7y ago
    Sales taxes and property taxes pay different things. Sales tax also affects residents more than tourists, and it'd be unfair to ramp it up to compensate for thousands of people descending on your town. There are electoral protections as a check - for the residents who live in the town. You're a visitor to a place, you don't get to change how it's run. If you don't like it, don't visit that place.

dehrmann 7y ago

> unlicensed Something Airbnb and Uber have shown is that licensing for these services is overkill. There are a handful of exceptions, but in general, anyone can do them safely enough. This isn't to say there shouldn't be any licensing, but that it can be lightweight.

save_ferris 7y ago

I think it's hard to argue that one system is objectively worse than the other when you're caught between entities avoiding taxes and licenses and entities that find ways to underpay workers that already don't make enough to live on. But I recognize that neither system is particularly constructive.