Tax is a catchy word. In Oklahoma, any headline with the word catches attention.
In fact, we at Chicken-Fried News were hooked by NewsOK.com’s recent headline “Airbnb to begin collecting taxes in Oklahoma.”
“Oh, no,” we moaned. Here the state goes again imposing taxes on everything we like: alcohol, tobacco, groceries and cars. Now, the state wants to tax our beloved Airbnb, where we book our staycations and rendezvous (on the infrequent occasions when we actually use our vacation time).
But our tax distress soon faded.
Next month, Airbnb — the well-known community-driven travel site — will collect a 4.5 percent state sales tax in addition to local lodging and city taxes from clients who stay in Oklahoma. While this is new for the state, it is not unheard of. In fact, Airbnb must collect taxes in more than 275 jurisdictions, including 20 other states, according to NewsOK.com.
In other words, Airbnb guests will pay a laundry list of taxes, just like they would if they stayed at a hotel. So, that’s fair, right? It seems fair to us. It’s not like in-state residents do much vacationing anyway. Don’t believe us? Read the Chicken-Fried news story “Go outside!” before we say, “We told you so!”
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