Since 2014, Airbnb has worked with tens of thousands of local governments around the world to streamline the collection process for tourism taxes. To date, we have remitted more than $7 billion in tourism taxes globally, making us, to our knowledge, the largest collector and remitter of tourism taxes by short-term rental platforms in the world.
With Tax Day in the US less than a week away, we’re sharing that in 2022, we collected and remitted more than $1.9 billion1 in tourism taxes across all 50 states in the US, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico—marking an increase of approximately 27 percent from 2021. In Canada, we collected and remitted over $177 million CAD in 2022, including nearly $70 million in federal Goods and Services Taxes (GST) in the last six months.2
Supporting financial resilience and recovery from the pandemic
These tourism taxes are a vital source of funding for local governments and the communities they support, especially in areas that saw revenue streams decimated by the pandemic. Many major cities in North America experienced a dramatic drop in tax dollars that historically came from their downtown and office space markets.
In contrast, tourism taxes collected on behalf of Hosts on our platform increased by almost 130 percent since 2019 in the US. These taxes help local governments fund essential services throughout the pandemic. In Chicago, for example, tax surcharges on guest bookings help fund city services aimed at combating homelessness and domestic violence. And in Toronto, revenue from the Municipal Accommodations Tax (MAT) helps fund a number of public works programs and services, including improvements to roads, transit, and parks and recreation.
Below is a breakdown of our tax collection and remittance in a number of states, provinces and cities in 2022:
Florida – over $371 million, an increase of approximately 20 percent from 2021
California – over $198 million, an increase of approximately 25 percent from 2021
Tennessee – over $120 million, an increase of approximately 30 percent from 2021
North Carolina – over $111 million, an increase of approximately 25 percent from 2021
Texas – over $87 million, an increase of approximately 35 percent from 2021
Arizona – over $78 million, an increase of approximately 25 percent from 2021
Illinois – over $35 million, an increase of approximately 20 percent from 2021
British Columbia – over $67 million CAD, an increase of approximately 70 percent from 2021
Quebec – over $28 million CAD, an increase of approximately 250 percent from 2021
Toronto – over $7 million CAD, an increase of approximately 170 percent from 2021
Increasing sources of tax revenue for emerging travel hubs
The pandemic gave rise to a fundamental shift in travel with millions of workers and families embracing the opportunity to live and work anywhere. This in turn led to an influx of travel to new destinations, such as rural counties in North Carolina and remote worker hubs like Tulsa, Oklahoma. Not only has the ‘travel revolution’ opened up opportunities for more people and businesses to benefit from the tourism economy, but it’s also brought additional tourism tax revenue to communities across North America.
In general, governments tend to see more revenue when platforms collect and remit taxes on behalf of Hosts. During the pandemic, we continued to expand our collection and remittance of tourism taxes to local governments—including those in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee—to maximize tax revenue generated from travel on Airbnb. These states and several others included below saw a significant increase in tax revenue collected and remitted by Airbnb during the pandemic.3
West Virginia – over $7 million, an increase of approximately 1065 percent from 2019
Virginia – over $25 million, an increase of approximately 465 percent from 2019
Oklahoma – over $12 million, an increase of approximately 290 percent from 2019
Tennessee – over $120 million, an increase of approximately 275 percent from 2019
Alabama – over $20 million, an increase of approximately 265 percent from 2019
A leader in short-term rental tax collection and remittance
For a long time, local governments did not have an efficient way to receive tax revenue from travel booked on short-term rental platforms. Airbnb sought to change that by collecting taxes from our community and remitting on their behalf, initially through Voluntary Collection Agreements (VCAs) and later by providing feedback to local legislators on proposed collect and remit laws for platforms.
We entered into our first VCAs with San Francisco and Portland in 2014 and have since worked with thousands more jurisdictions—via agreements or laws—to lighten the administrative burden on local governments and simplify the collection and remittance process for a number of taxes on behalf of Hosts on Airbnb, including sales taxes, tourism taxes, and gross receipts taxes on accommodation.
Whether we’re collecting and remitting taxes in states that need our Hosts’ tax dollars now more than ever or streamlining the collection process for a growing source of revenue for emerging travel hubs, we’ll continue to work closely with local governments to unlock the full potential of tourism and travel.
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