Taxing income from short lets

A considerable number of homeowners in big cities and tourist destinations are putting up their spare rooms or entire properties up for short-term rent through Airbnb and similar platforms in order to supplement their incomes.

Although this is a legitimate practice, short-term letting also has a negative effect on local residents as it tends to price long-term renters out of the market.

What we are dealing with here is a new type of entrepreneurship. For this reason, authorities are right to ask property owners to declare revenues from short-term rentals and to tax those revenues – as long as the taxation is reasonable and fair.