Hawaii Legislature Closer to Passing a Tax on AirBnb Rentals

I am a big AirBnb fan but I have to admit I support the State taxing the rentals for the following reasons:

• The visitors at the hotels have to pay taxes thus everyone should.
• Investors who are avoiding the taxes are driving up the price of real estate thus making it hard for locals to afford homes.
• Tourists that come to the remote areas we live in where they stay in AirBnb's make a mess of the area and there is no infrastructure to clean it up.
• Money is being removed from State coffers which can be used to pay for essential services.

The estimate for Oahu is that there are roughly 800 legal rentals and over 8000 illegal ones.

This shows that it is an industry that is growing unregulated, underground, and out of control.

Let us hope the Hawaii State Legislature does the right thing.