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Airbnb Promises to Pay Its Fair Share of Taxes and Help Prevent Misuse

Airbnb has issued a new “Community Compact” where it says it wants to work with cities, not against them.
Rachel Pick
New York, US

After muscling past potentially limiting legislation in San Francisco, Airbnb has released a new "Community Compact," pledging to help work with cities by paying its "fair share" of hotel taxes and preventing Airbnb from being misused by unscrupulous landlords running illegal hotels.

Airbnb has bedeviled some city lawmakers, who argue that the service bypasses crucial hotel safety regulations and, more importantly, taxes. Throw in people Airbnb'ing unoccupied apartments that should be on the market for long-term renters, and you worsen the housing crisis already rampant in many urban areas.

Airbnb, which spent $8 million fighting San Francisco's Proposition F with an extremely ill-advised ad campaign, seems willing to play nice after winning that major battle with city government. As The New York Times points outpoints out, the company's whole business model occupies what is in many cities a regulatory grey area, so Airbnb will have to soften up a little if it doesn't want to fight intractable battles in cities across the globe.

Specifically, the new compact states "We will partner with individual cities to address their policy needs, and work with cities to help ensure the efficient collection of tourist and hotel taxes," and "we will work with our community to help prevent short-term rentals from impacting the availability and cost of permanent housing for city residents." Airbnb did not provide details on how it would enforce the latter resolution.

This new compact is a step back from strong words the company issued only a week ago, where it promised to go to the mat against any legislation that would limit its operation.