http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/2017/09/27/concern-local-tax-collection-airbnb/
MURRAY, KY – Have you ever rented an AirBnB? Starting Sunday, the company will automatically remit Kentucky’s 6 percent state sales tax to the Department of Revenue. It’s the visitor, not the host, who will end up paying the tax. Local tourism leaders say there are applicable local taxes, and they hope the local level won’t be forgotten.
Not only is the Red Bug a place for your knitting and yarn needs, but it’s also a place where you’re welcomed to lay your head.
Building owner Jill McElya uses AirBnB to rent the attached apartment to travelers and families, and she benefits from the extra income.
“They want to know everything about the area. They want me to tell them everything they get a personal experience and they spend their money in Murray,” she says.
She says she loves the system as is, and she hopes visitors continue to think so as well, “I don’t mind paying taxes. I think I should pay taxes, but I don’t want everyone to get involved and keep taking so much out of it it’s not worth doing.”
Even though AirBnB will now remit state taxes, local convention and visitors bureau leaders say there’s no collection system for local level taxes through the company.
Erin Carrico with Murray’s Convention and Visitors Bureau says west Kentucky towns are just starting to embrace AirBnB. She says, as opposed to those state taxes collected automatically through the app, towns with local transient taxes would have to actively collect those taxes.
Carrico says, “AirBnB nationally has been trying to rectify the situation regarding transient room tax, so I think it’s a really good thing you’re seeing it on the state level. And we’re hoping it will trickle down to see changes locally, too.”
But in a town with a “Feels Like Home” tagline, why not stay at home?
Carrico says in Murray, they collected an estimated $225,000 in transient taxes last year. That number is mainly from the hotels in the area, not AirBnB. But Carrico says if AirBnB grows in the area, she hopes that number will grow as well.