Hoteliers urge federal candidates to tax Airbnb hosts

Canada's hotel owners are renewing their callfor the federal government to tax short-term rental operators such as Airbnb, and this time they want to make it an election issue.

During a news conference Wednesday at the Lord Elgin Hotel in downtown Ottawa, the Hotel Association of Canada launched a campaign calling on all federal candidates in the fall election to support their demand for Airbnbto pay a corporate tax, as well as for Airbnbhosts to charge guestsGSTor HST.

"If anybody is operating the same type of business as a hotel...then they should be subject to the same rules and regulations that we, as hotels, are subject to," said Alana Baker, thedirector of government relations for the association.

Airbnbdoesn't currentlypay corporate taxes in Canada, though hostsin some jurisdictions are required to charge renters either a provincial municipal tax, or in some cases both.

In Ottawa,Airbnbrenters are required to pay a four per cent municipal accommodation tax based on the combinedlisting price and cleaning fee of the unit, with part of thatrevenue helping to support the efforts of Ottawa Tourism.

Quebec and B.C. are the only provinces thatcharge Airbnbrenters a provincial tax, with Quebec charging 3.5 per cent of the listing price andB.C. collecting eight per cent of the combinedlisting price and cleaning fee, plus another two to threeper cent in municipal tax.

Hosts whose annual income from rentals exceeds $30,000 are already required to charge and remit HSTand GST.

Hotels 'peddling lies,' Airbnb says

Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association, said he's not concerned about asking federal candidates to campaign on a pledge to increase taxes for a service such as Airbnb, which many Canadians enjoy.

"I would not call it an increase in taxes, I would call it a fairness in taxes,"Ball said.

"We want them to pay what everyone else pays. We think that if you're operating as a business in this country, you should be obliged to pay corporate taxes."

'They're running a small ghost hotel'

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Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association, says he is concerned about people buying up investment properties for the short-term rental market.

In a pointed responseto the hotel association's campaign launch, AirbnbspokespersonAlexandra Daggsaid hotels are simply trying to eliminate competition.

"The big corporate hotels are at it again, peddling lies about home sharing to protect their ability to price gouge consumers, and preserve antiquated business models," Daggwrote.

Targeting 'ghost hotels'

Dagg saidAirbnbhas worked closely with governments across Canada, especially in B.C., to collect and remit tourism taxes.

Ball said he'snot interestedin taxing homeowners who occasionally rent their places out while they're away, but on properties known as "ghost hotels," which are used primarily asshort-term rental units.

"The issue is around the commercialization," Ball said. "Our industry has never had any problem with someone renting our their principal residence they're in thehome, they've got a little extra capacityand they want to make a little extra money that's never been an issue."