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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
 
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Candice - can you clarify where the 6% tax revenue will go? Jc or the state and what will it be used for?
Collecting it on a platform level makes sense and 6$ on a 100$ per night short term stay (which is average or a bit high based on examining listings on airbnb) is a pretty nominal rate which wont come out of homeowners end and shouldn't discourage interest. Hoboken will likely enact a similar provision if it comes down to a small tax vs overregulation
Posted on: 2015/4/12 16:14
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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2006/11/13 18:42 Last Login : 2022/2/28 7:31 From 280 Grove Street
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/you ... html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
Who pays if an airbnb user accidentally burns your home down - If city councils are deeming it illegal, would it mean insurance co's can void any claim ... also who is accountable if a airbnb user has stuff stolen from the yard or home they are in ... can they make a claim against the landlord or service provider? Also from my understanding you can't claim a burglary in a hotel ... would this apply to the property of a airbnb provider?
Posted on: 2015/4/12 9:16
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My humor is for the silent blue collar majority - If my posts offend, slander or you deem inappropriate and seek deletion, contact the webmaster for jurisdiction.
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Just can't stay away
 
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I am surprised no one is talking about negative side of AirBNB in a neighborhood. We should be discussing stopping illegal hotel rentals instead of how we are taxing them!
"A fast-growing global phenomenon, airbnb?s biggest and most lucrative market is reportedly New York City. Councilmembers heard overwhelming complaints about how airbnb is helping deplete the city?s affordable housing stock, while also creating building-wide security, safety and nuisance issues. Meanwhile, many noted, the city?s enforcement unit for dealing with the problem of illegal rentals is tiny and can?t keep up with the mushrooming underground industry." http://thevillager.com/2015/01/22/foe ... b-share-views-at-hearing/ Since we are next to NYC we will get some of this side-effect as well. I could see why JC City Hall not having an issue with it since increased property values will yield higher property taxes. This opens the the door to investors coming in and artificially increasing already high housing pricing and over bidding regular folks since they can make double the rent vs. traditional yearly lease. Ask yourselves if you want to have a hotel room next to your apt or private home with total strangers showing up each week?
Posted on: 2015/4/12 3:39
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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I guess to help the towns in the Meadowlands who currently put money into the kitty can have out-of-area taxpayers take over that burden instead of local taxpayers. Of course, just like the new airbnb tax revenue, it'll only be spent and not used to reduce expenditures.
Posted on: 2015/4/10 21:31
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Quote:
thanks monroe, i still don't see why people who stay in jersey city hotels should have to pay for something in the meadowlands?
Posted on: 2015/4/10 21:01
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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[quote]
hero69 wrote: why is there a special tax for meadowlands unless it is to restore it to its natural state. if the meadowlands can't sustain itself, maybe it should be scaled back or shut down.[/quote http://www.northjersey.com/community- ... for-meadowlands-1.1265612
Posted on: 2015/4/10 19:53
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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why is there a special tax for meadowlands unless it is to restore it to its natural state. if the meadowlands can't sustain itself, maybe it should be scaled back or shut down.
Posted on: 2015/4/10 18:00
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Don't forget that the current 6% tax rate will rise by 50% to 9% when the Meadowlands Commission balancing tax goes into effect.
Posted on: 2015/4/10 15:31
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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2014/12/21 14:43 Last Login : 2015/11/15 0:07 From Harsimus Cove
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Quote:
This took me aback - I assumed (always dangerous) that young downtowners with a spare bed or sleeper would be interested in doing this. They would be the most comfortable having 'strangers' visit. Perhaps you're correct. Actually wouldn't this be a great way to supplement the income of low income people. Charging $100 and returning $6.00 seems a good deal. Also perhaps someone could organize cleaning services for Airbnb participants on an as needed basis. This could create a few jobs.
Posted on: 2015/4/10 14:04
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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2012/10/12 12:58 Last Login : 2016/5/8 0:52 From Jersey City
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+1 for Pebble
Posted on: 2015/4/10 13:40
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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The Jersey City portion of the tax goes directly towards Jersey City. The state portion of the tax revenue gets distributed, with some benefit to promote tourism.
The State Occupancy Fee is allocated, in varying percentages, to the following: the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; New Jersey Historical Commission; New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission; New Jersey Cultural Trust. The Municipal Occupancy Tax is distributed back to the municipality. Quote:
Posted on: 2015/4/9 20:22
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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I don't know if it is written into the law, but that's the theory behind it. Compared to NJ the hotel taxes in New York State and City are ridiculously high, most of it goes to the state and city general funds and only a teensy bit (like 1/2% or something) specifically goes to fund tourist information centers around the state and other tourism-related marketing. Kind of a raw deal for the hotel industry, but they seem to be surviving and thriving anyway.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 20:02
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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2013/3/29 21:43 Last Login : 2023/9/5 18:27 From Bergen Hill
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JC has a hotel tax in place. It?s been in place for decades. Currently, people have opened new hotel spaces in their apartment but they are avoiding the hotel tax.
Seems like these new hotels are getting an abatement? Quote:
You are flat out wrong. There is a vast difference between the hotel stay, which AirBnB is, and a renter. Hotel taxes have existed for years. Somehow this hasn?t translated to a tax on renters. Quote:
The city cleans up the hotels now...? Quote:
They are going to Hoboken now over JC. They won?t go to Bayonne over JC. Quote:
I think the direction of how the taxes are to be spent is the theory and not the practice.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 19:30
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Dos A Cero
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Where is it said that hotel taxes go to promote tourism? The new, added hotel tax in JC will be distributed amongst the towns in the Meadowlands Commission for tax relief-this is an additional 3% on top of the current hotel tax.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 18:37
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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People will just go to Bayonne or Hoboken Airbnb to avoid the tax.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 18:35
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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If the city used that 6% to clean the apts, then I would say great, but is just another way to squeeze more money from over taxed property owner while the city gives away the ratable base to developers.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 18:33
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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2012/10/12 12:58 Last Login : 2016/5/8 0:52 From Jersey City
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Quote:
so what you are really advocating for isn't that we shouldn't have hotel taxes apply to people who treat apartments like they are hotels but that we should completely eliminate the hotel tax so that people who rent rooms out in hotels aren't treated differently than people who rent rooms out of homes... hotel occupancy taxes are theoretically supposed to go towards promoting tourism, that probably isn't how they are generally spent in the real world, but if you benefit from the tourism you should have to pay your share towards the marketing that helps drive it.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 17:31
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Wow. I think I agree with you on something. It's a regressive tax that will hit people on lower income the hardest. Not to mention that hotel properties are typically abated while residences typically aren't. There are better ways of closing the "loophole" than what appears to be a simple money grab...
Posted on: 2015/4/9 16:42
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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There is no difference between renting an apartment or rooms for several days and a long term tenant. I see this ordinance turning into a 6% tax on apartments eventually. We don't need it. Boggiano is right, this is a tax on the small homeowner. The city is not providing any service for this 6%, it just has its hands in our pockets.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 16:13
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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My reading of her post is that there is pending legislation in Trenton, at the State Govt level, that would tremendously harm Uber and Lyft via over-regulation. I don't think Jersey City has anything to do with what goes on in Trenton, unless there is a proposed JC law not discussed in the article.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:55
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Who is we? These are individuals supplementing their income by renting out furnished rooms, presumably to tourists. This has nothing to do with JC losing money or being in competition. If it throws some cash into the pot, why not. If I were a landlord, I'd be reviewing leases and maybe demanding a cut for additional use of my property. And if Hans und Heidi choose to have an early night and eat in dtjc or have breakfast here JC business benefits. Your bringing up prix-fixe water is a total non-sequitur.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:49
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Of course, hire more people. Before the fire in city hall every department fitted in 280 Grove St. After the city started renting the personnel grew which created the need for more rental or now a city hall annex.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:48
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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oh vey, always a reason to avoid taxes. hopefully the city will be able to put the money to good use
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:34
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Thanks for your responses Candace, I appreciate it. At the end of the day, I don't care much about the AirBNB issue anyway and if the 6% tax can be collected easily, so be it. If there needs to be some kind of fee or tax on Uber/Lyft in Jersey City, as long as it's not too high, I'm fine with it. But please DON'T let Uber or Lyft get regulated out of business in Jersey City, the regular taxicabs in this city are unreliable and downright frightening sometimes. It does me no good to be standing out in the rain, unable to find any cabs and the cabs I do find often refuse to turn on their meters and want to charge some arbitrary rate (I actually got a refund from the city recently because of a cab that wouldn't turn on its meter).
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:30
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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If you believe sales taxes don't effect consumer behavior then get rid of this ridiculous discounted 3.5% sales tax rate in Jersey City. Increase to the full 7% that is normally charged in the rest of the state. Because apparently, by your logic, neither the current reduced rate nor an increase to the normal rate will have any effect on people's shopping habits.
Of course sales taxes effect people's purchase decisions. Duh. Or at least the decisions of smart people.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:19
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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Quote:
I would assume that if AirBNB does not begin collecting the tax and paying it to the city, that the city will sue AirBnB. However, AirBnB has been making the case in NY that simply including them in hotel taxes is better than banning the service. AirBnB already collects hotel taxes elsewhere, so its unlikely the NJ law allowing hotel taxes and Jersey City code implementing it are any different. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsi ... es-in-a-handful-of-cities
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:14
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Home away from home
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We are competing in a Hudson County market not just a Jersey City market. If we pass on the tax, then the costs are greater. Of course it is a tax just like water has become a tax. (I still remember just paying $500.00 a year for water and I didn't know I had a water leak until I had work done in my home.) Water is tax and this is also a tax, stop window dressing the issue.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 14:06
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Just can't stay away
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Just want to respond to a few things here.
1 - Prior to last night everyone doing this is technically operating outside the law. By expanding the definition of hotel, this is legitimizing what is already happening. 2 - AirBnB collects it the same way websites collect sales tax- directly from the consumer. On that note, now that websites collect sales tax...have we seen fewer and fewer people shop online? 3 - It doesn't make financial sense for the city to go after $20 here and $20 there. So, if someone is posting on Craigs List or rent to a family/friend they technically should be collecting and remitting the tax, but the reality is it wouldn't be worth enforcing. Where it IS worth enforcing is where we have network effect (i.e. hundreds of hotel rentals in one place.) AirBnB is a perfect example of this. We will spend time enforcing there and the method is simple, the network collects and remits the fee payed by the non Jersey City resident. 4 - I personally have never chosen one city over another in terms of where I was staying on vacation because of the hotel taxes which vary by municipality. I'm certainly annoyed when I get my bill and I see the tax, but it doesn't change my behavior. I am willing to bet (as evidenced by my sponsoring this legislation) that people make their decision to be in JC based on proximity to NYC, transportation options to NYC and relative lower cost. 5 - I reached out to Uber when I found out what was going on in Trenton (aka "safety" regulations.) When I met with Uber a couple of weeks ago, I expressed my concerns on the impact to Jersey City if the legislation goes through, because I feel like it will limit options for residents. They are VERY concerned about that legislation and during the course of our conversation they said they are open to having some type of fees and/or tax. It is the over-regulation they are concerned with. As an FYI - there are 15,000 (you read that right) trips on Uber that begin in Jersey City each week. There are 603 Uber drivers who live in Jersey City (the vast majority who use it for supplemental income.) Uber would not give me numbers on the average income of each of those people, but I did ask a driver and he told me it provided an extra $400-600 a week for him. That is real money. Uber has lowered the cost and increased the service for consumers and provided meaningful supplemental income opportunities for residents. And so we do need to make sure it is protected. I 100% agree. From my early conversations with them, they do not think fees will hurt their model, they think over regulation will.
Posted on: 2015/4/9 13:50
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Just can't stay away
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Here is some background on the issue for those that are uninformed. This is a no-brainer and something everyone in JC should be on board with. The only downside is that AirBNB prices for guests are now slightly higher (6%) and perhaps people will look to stay in other cities. That being said- prices are still well below NYC levels and I imagine that vast majority of people are staying here for the proximity to NYC.
Airbnb is about to start collecting hotel taxes in more major cities, including Washington - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/w ... ies-including-washington/
Posted on: 2015/4/9 12:42
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Re: Jersey City hotel tax expanded to include Airbnb, other short-term rental services
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Just can't stay away
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Yvonne - You aren't grasping the hotel tax concept here. It is not a tax on the homeowner, but a tax the guest pays to the city. Almost every major city around the world charges hotel taxes that show up on your bill. This is why when you book a room for somewhere for $100 a night you end up paying something like $125 per night (the final rate depends on the tax rate where you are staying)
As you can imagine, most local constituents like the idea of passing the tax off to visitors / non-residents. As the hotel tax already exists, this is truly just the closing of a loophole. Cities around the world are enacting legislation to have AirBNB and similar services charge and collect taxes. I believe the enforcement happens on the AirBNB side of the transaction as they are required to cooperate with all local rules / regulations. They simply add the tax to all Jersey City bookings and send it to the city. Quote:
Posted on: 2015/4/9 12:34
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