Why Airbnb targets affordable housing bill with “Vacation Tax” line | Opinion
It was business as usual in Olympia this week, with a committee in the Washington House of Representatives sending – what else – a tax bill to the full Legislature.
It’s not even scheduled for a full vote yet, but I’m calling it now: get ready for this tax to affect your daily life. How? In the form of text messages and other political ads.
This is no ordinary tax. It’s a tax that local governments can collect on short-term rentals. That means it has a singular, deep-pocketed opponent ready to nuke it.
Airbnb has funnelled nearly $4 million into an independent expenditure committee called the “Airbnb Helps Our State Thrive (HOST) PAC,” and it’s hard at work framing this bill as an attack on your vacations. The “no” campaign started when the bill was introduced last legislative session, took a short break over the summer, and then got back to it before the bill could even be reintroduced in the current session.
Does the tax this bill could eventually lead to make your vacations cost slightly more? Yes. Is it meant to be a fun-hating killjoy in a punishing economy? No, of course not.
In reality, the tax this bill contemplates would be an attempt to bring balance to housing markets that in many places have been destabilized by short-term rentals listed on platforms like Airbnb.
The bill would create no statewide tax, nor any tax right away. If it became law, it would let local governments decide whether to pass a tax of 1-4% on short-term rentals in their borders. The funds would let those communities invest in affordable housing.
The true threat here is to Airbnb’s bottom line. With their multi-million dollar PAC contributions, they’re showing they won’t tolerate a law in one state that lets local governments consider taxing rentals listed on their platforms. It’s a disproportionate show of force disguised as a local push against the bill.
The ads I’ve seen online feature real people who have real concerns about the potential for a short-term rental tax. People who are listing their property on Airbnb to pay their mortgage. People who use Airbnb to be closer to family who need medical treatment. And the message is aimed at people in Washington, not vacationers from afar.
But we shouldn’t dismiss the idea of giving local governments the ability to at least consider a tax in a public process. There’s no real way around it. Airbnb extracts value from our local real estate markets while effectively lowering the number of available homes for residents to actually live in. And it’s often a more appealing way to make money from an investment property than renting it as affordable housing.
Few places know this effect like the San Juan Islands, a place where many Washingtonians like to vacation. San Juan County passed an ordinance in 2022 allowing for caps on the number of short-term rental licenses available on each island.
The squeeze from short-term rentals hits differently on an island, where there’s a hard limit on the amount of land that people can use for housing. That’s what Rep. Alex Ramel, a state representative for residents of the San Juans in Washington’s 40th legislative district, pointed out to me when he explained why he’s a co-sponsor of the bill.
Limited affordable housing creates hardship for the workforce that powers the tourism industry in the San Juans, he said.
“There’s a saying on the San Juan Islands that everybody out there either has three homes or three jobs,” Ramel said. “People who work in restaurants, people who work in tourism, they need homes too.”
Ramel has spoken with people who’re concerned about the effect of a short-term rental tax on their ability to pay for a home or an investment property. He sympathizes. Ultimately, he’d like to see their input considered at the local level when communities decide whether and how much to tax.
I think that’s right, although I know it’s a burden to make people argue why they shouldn’t be taxed. It’s also a burden to be unable to afford a home where you live and work. And I have no doubt Airbnb will be invested in making sure property owners who use its platforms get their voices heard at a local level, too.
