Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
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Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#2This is a bit of a deceptive headline. The immediate sub-headline is "Up to third of price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment, FT finds", which is a pretty massive difference.
(Side note: Usual "Google the headline" trick works on FT.com's paywall)
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#3This is a bit of a deceptive headline. The immediate sub-headline is "Up to third of price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment, FT finds", which is a pretty massive difference. (Side note: Usual "Google the headline" trick works on FT.com's paywall)
Also, the much higher VAT rate paid by most hotels in the UK compared to most AirBnBs (17% vs 0.6%) is not because AirBnBs are illegally avoiding the tax, but simply because most hotels, but few AirBnBs, cross the business-size threshold where the higher VAT kicks in.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#4It's almost as if AirBnB, Uber et al get by on skirting the law other people have to follow.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#5This is a bit of a deceptive headline. The immediate sub-headline is "Up to third of price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment, FT finds", which is a pretty massive difference. (Side note: Usual "Google the headline" trick works on FT.com's paywall)
Thank you, we've updated the title.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#6It's almost as if AirBnB, Uber et al get by on skirting the law other people have to follow.
"Skirting the law" is loaded language that makes it sound as though they are doing something illegal. They are not.
It's true, though; the reason companies like AirBnB and Uber are so vastly superior to the entrenched competition is that they don't have to deal with all the ridiculous and pointless red tape that makes taxis so horrendous and American hotels so insanely expensive.
I'm not sure how anyone can recognize that overregulation makes taxis, hotels, etc. so truly awful and then turn around and suggest that the solution is to also overregulate everyone else who managed to escape from that utility-sucking tarpit of bureaucracy and waste.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#7This is a bit of a deceptive headline. The immediate sub-headline is "Up to third of price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment, FT finds", which is a pretty massive difference. (Side note: Usual "Google the headline" trick works on FT.com's paywall)
Also, the much higher VAT rate paid by most hotels in the UK compared to most AirBnBs (17% vs 0.6%) is not because AirBnBs are illegally avoiding the tax, but simply because most hotels, but few AirBnBs, cross the business-size threshold where the higher VAT kicks in.
its not a "higher VAT" threshold, you do not have to register for or charge VAT at all if your business earns less than £85,000 (you might want to if you pay out a lot of VAT though). This is unusual in the EU, most countries do not have this exemption I don't think.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#8It's almost as if AirBnB, Uber et al get by on skirting the law other people have to follow.
"Skirting the law" is loaded language that makes it sound as though they are doing something illegal. They are not. It's true, though; the reason companies like AirBnB and Uber are so vastly superior to the entrenched competition is that they don't have to deal with all the ridiculous and pointless red tape that makes taxis so horrendous and American hotels so insanely expensive. I'm not sure how anyone can recognize…
I think you may have swung a bit too far to the other side. There are certainly credible entities that did believe Uber and AirBnB was/is doing something illegal. They've certainly both been cited for violations, taken to court, etc...successfully.
As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#9It's almost as if AirBnB, Uber et al get by on skirting the law other people have to follow.
Maybe we should be asking why some industries are heavily taxed and others are not
Re: Up to a third of Airbnb's price gap with hotels is due to tax treatment
#10It's almost as if AirBnB, Uber et al get by on skirting the law other people have to follow.
"Skirting the law" is loaded language that makes it sound as though they are doing something illegal. They are not. It's true, though; the reason companies like AirBnB and Uber are so vastly superior to the entrenched competition is that they don't have to deal with all the ridiculous and pointless red tape that makes taxis so horrendous and American hotels so insanely expensive. I'm not sure how anyone can recognize…
"Loaded language" makes it sound like these are fully legitimate businesses on the receiving end of undue criticism. But then you point out how these businesses are operating in the same market, but avoiding the market regulation, almost as though they are operating in a quasi-illegal state.
Why do you believe the regulation of these markets is particularly onerous? Can you provide some specific examples?