Massachusetts Senate Legislations That Could Impact Airbnb

Short-term rental platforms like Airbnb enhance tourism, offer tons of flexibility and allow individuals to boost their income. However, on the flip side, they can reduce housing availability, increase long-term rental prices and operate illegally. The Massachusetts Senate are ready to sit down to find equilibrium between the positives and negatives.

According to reports, the Senate are considering enforcing a variety of state hotel and excise taxes. In essence, every room offered as a short-term rental will face tax and local communities will be able to impose excise taxes.

In recent times, we’ve seen the Massachusetts House introduced a bill that consists of a tiered tax system; independent landlords are required to pay 4-percent, while professional agencies could be taxed at either 5.7-percent or 8-percent. With that being said, this new one constructed by the Senate is very different.

To put it into perspective, they’ve stated that this new set of legislations would generate around $60-million a year in total – $25.5-million in local taxes and $34.5-million in state taxes.