A new Liberal levy that would slap a 5% fee on short-stay rental accommodation bookings across Tasmania has been slammed as ‘just another tax’ that will do nothing to fix the accomodation crisis.
Liberal Minister Nic Street said the party believes Tasmanians should be able to use their homes to generate income through either short or long-stay rental and confirmed they have “no intention of curtailing that right with policies such as arbitrary and unfair caps.”
“Our state-wide short-stay regulatory policy has played an important role in enabling and supporting the growth of our visitor economy,” he said.
“However, on the other side of the coin, there is no doubt that the increasing number of houses on the short stay market has reduced the availability of long-stay rentals and contributed to higher rents.”
He said the fees collected from those staying in short-stay rental properties booked through sites like AirBnb and Stayz, estimated to be around $11 million a year, will go towards fulfilling an election promise of removing the Stamp Duty fee to help young Tasmanians in purchasing their first homes.
Labor Minister Dean Winter said the “knee jerk” announcement was made with no consultation and claimed it will increase cost-of-living pressures for tourism operators.
“The Premier should know that you can’t tax your way out of a cost-of-living crisis, but he’s trying to do it anyway,” Winter said.
“The Liberals have now tried on a waste tax, a fire tax and now a shack tax, all while Tasmanians are struggling to pay the bills.”
“Regional accommodation operators have had a tough few years and with a cost of living crisis they need a government that supports them, not taxes them.”
The Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania is also opposed to the proposal.
“Housing is a very important issue that political parties should address, but this policy raises a number of questions,” TICT CEO Amy Hills said.
“The TICT’s main concern is that this could be a slippery slope to a broader visitor tax, which would have a huge impact on our industry.
She said the industry was concerned the policy would “disproportionately impact” regional Tasmania.
“We know that short-stay accommodation has helped to support a regional revival in our visitor economy and our destination needs to stay competitive in the face of increasing cost of living pressures impacting the travelling public,” she said.
The Greens say under their government, new short stay accomodation permits would not be issued in residential zones.
A short-stay levy of 7.5% has recently been announced in Victoria and is also being considered in New South Wales.
