© 2024
Virginia's Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Governor McAuliffe Approves Airbnb Regulation Bill

Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Scheduler / Creative Commons

Virginia’s Republican lawmakers and Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe have finally reached a middle ground on how to handle one part of the new disruptive economy. As Michael Pope reports, local governments across Virginia are about to start cracking down on Airbnb.

In many places across the state, local governments have outlawed Airbnb. That’s the online platform that lets homeowners rent out rooms, or their whole houses. Oftentimes, homeowners don’t register as businesses. That makes it difficult for local governments to collect taxes on the transactions. Now Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe is agreeing with Republican Senate Leader Tommy Norment.

“As we move forward and have to address the shared economy, if it is unregulated ultimately there is going to be enormous fiscal stress placed on localities as there is tax avoidance.”

Now McAuliffe is signing Norment’s bill, which allows local governments to require homeowners who use Airbnb to register as businesses -- which means paying taxes. Airbnb public policy director Will Burns says the law would have been better if Airbnb had been given permission to collect those taxes on behalf of the homeowners. But, he says, that still might happen.

“We’re going to continue to talk to policymakers about the idea and there may be units of local government that want to enter into agreements with us. That hasn’t happened yet. But we’ll see what happens.”

And all those homeowners who think they can get by without getting a local license need to watch out. The new law also allows local governments to issue fees and penalties of up to $500.

Related Content