Airbnb Paid Over $220K in Taxes to Dutchess County in 2017

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Photo Credit: Screenshot from Airbnb listings, A Little Beacon Blog.

Photo Credit: Screenshot from Airbnb listings, A Little Beacon Blog.

As the City of Beacon considers legislation for short-term rentals in residential houses, everyone involved is looking at their finances. During a public hearing for the legislation, homeowners who rent their homes out on a per-night, short-term basis, came out to speak in favor of continuing to allow short-term rentals in their homes. Many of the homeowners discussed financial implications they would face if Beacon legislated against short-term rentals or limited the amount of nightly rentals to 100 per year per house (the City Council has since scratched out that maximum from the draft legislation currently being discussed at City Council's Workshop meeting on 4/30/18), or imposing a New York State fire code law for Bed and Breakfasts that requires a sprinkler system or special windows installed in the home.

Other Areas of Economy Impacted by Airbnb

A Beacon resident and Airbnb user, Eileen O'Hare, shed light on another economic area that is impacted by Airbnb rentals, and that is the service industry. According to Eileen's presentation at the public hearing, Airbnb recommends for homeowners to pay for house cleaning and lawn care in order to attract good and consistent bookings. She then posed this question to the City Council at that meeting: "I pay my cleaning lady $25 per hour. What do you pay yours?"

Tax Revenue Going to Dutchess County Generated by Airbnb Bookings

People who make money from Airbnb bookings, like house cleaners, also attended the meeting to request that the short-term rentals be allowed to continue. This got us to thinking about the wider economic impact of short-term rentals on the area, and so we reached out to Dutchess County Legislator Nick Page to get some answers about any revenue generated by the Bed Tax. That tax, as well as sales tax, goes straight to Dutchess County and does not directly get paid to the City of Beacon. Here are some economic statistics derived from tax revenue raised for Dutchess County through Airbnb short-term bookings, according to Nick's understanding, from conversations with the Dutchess County Department of Finance:

  • Airbnb paid a total of $221,918 of the 4% Bed Tax to Dutchess County for 2017. 

  • Dutchess County began collecting the 4% Bed Tax from hosts using the Airbnb platform on March 1, 2017. 

  • The payments to the county are not broken down by municipality (i.e. city, town, or village) and the county does not have access to the host addresses from Airbnb.

  • Airbnb remits one payment to the county by the 20th of each month for the preceding month's activity.

  • Dutchess County is about to begin tracking other short-term rental sites as well. Currently, Dutchess County only collects from Airbnb.

The discussion continues, as the City Council meets tonight to go over the latest changes to the draft legislation based on feedback from the community. On the public agenda for tonight, this topic is filed under "Short-Term Rentals" and is currently #4 out of 12 topics to discuss. Bring your coffee.

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