Airbnb now adds 7% tax and gives money to cities

According to a recent article, the Virginia town of Blacksburg received $27,000 in taxes for four months of Airbnb rentals after it signed an agreement with the vacation rental company. Sounds like a win for localities, right?

VF&N’s municipal attorney Martin Crim says differently.

“Blacksburg is getting $6750 per month in transient occupancy taxes from AirBnB, but had to give up the right to have information on individual hosts to get it,” Martin explains. “This means that Blacksburg can’t, for example, determine if the right amount of taxes is being paid, or determine if a property is being used in violation of its zoning ordinance or the Uniform Statewide Building Code. I’m surprised that the Town would agree to that trade-off.”