Amidst growing calls for taxation to be imposed on Airbnb-style properties, President of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, Reginald Mac Lean, argued that Airbnb’s, small guest houses, and villas should be taxed in a manner similar to hotels.
However, Co-Leader of the Airbnb Host Community for T&T and the Southern Caribbean, and founder of the Trinidad and Tobago Short Stay Association, Ruth Cumberbatch, while agreeing that some level of taxation is necessary, maintained that the model of taxation should be differently structured to reflect the sector’s realities. She shared her perspective on Talk City 91.1 FM’s Ground Report.
“We cannot the normal, say a retiree or a mom and pop who has a property under her house and decides to turn it into a short stay rental, we cannot classify, or we cannot tax that person in the same manner we would a co-operate entity.”
Ms. Cumberbatch noted that small accommodations use more resources to provide personalized guest experiences, unlike hotels with larger operations and higher revenues, and suggested that any tax system draw on models from Grenada and Barbados.
“Is that they have actually come and come to the table and said well listen this is what we want to do. How can we make it fair.. And that is what we dealing with, what is the fairness of it and with a wide, how to say a widespread taxation, of saying all rentals, it does not treat to the fairness.”