Correspondence - Email from Hotel Association of Greater Victoria
Request for Council to support rescinding provincial tax regulations that exempt small short-term rentals from collecting PST.
Email Correspondence
From: Dawn Sheppard Sent: November-29-16 3:26 PM To: Dawn Sheppard Subject: Provincial Tax Regulation 78(1)(b)
Dear Mayor and Council,
Further to my recent letter urging you to write to the Minister of Finance to remove the aforementioned regulation, it has come to my attention that December 1 or sooner is an ideal date to submit your letter to the Minister. This is assuming that you agree with this initiative.
Please find enclosed a sample letter that was drafted by James Chase, BC Hotel Association, should you wish to use it.
Thank you for your attention.
Kind regards, Reid James Chair, Hotel Association of Greater Victoria
Sample Letter: Request to Rescind Provincial Tax Regulation 78(1)(b)
The Honourable Michael de Jong Minister of Finance PO Box 9048 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
VIA EMAIL: FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
RE: Request to rescind Provincial Tax Regulation 78(1)(b)
Dear Minister de Jong,
We are writing to request your support in addressing an urgent matter impacting the businesses and citizens of CITY.
As the Minister well knows, many British Columbians have embraced short-term residential rental companies such as Airbnb and Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO). While these online platforms have in some cases brought bring new visitors and tourism spending to BC communities such as ours, we have also experienced a corresponding negative impact on the availability and affordability of monthly rental accommodations. Many businesses in CITY have expressed frustration over their inability to assist new or existing employees to locate affordable monthly rental accommodation. The vacancy rate is often near zero, and in some cases our businesses have lost potential employees due to this chronic rental shortage.
One of the challenges is that short-term rental accommodations are not subject to the same regulatory, legal, taxation, health and safety, or insurance laws as traditional accommodation providers. For example, residents who offer fewer than four rooms for rent do not have to collect provincial sales taxes when renting those accommodations. This exemption has created an unclear business environment, and made it all but impossible for municipalities such as ours to effectively enforce the rules.
We believe that eliminating this exemption, outlined in section 78(1)(b) of BC’s Provincial Sales Tax Act (Provincial Sales Tax Exemption and Refund Regulations), will help resolve this situation while significantly enhancing our community’s enforcement regime. Not only will it encourage our local renters to register their business income fairly, but it will also increase voluntary compliance among landlords who risk finding themselves off-side with both local bylaws and the provincial tax code.
We therefore respectfully request that you rescind Provincial Sales Tax Act exemption 78(1)(b) as soon as possible. Your government’s support in this matter will be vital to assisting our municipality to tackle this issue in a timely manner.
Yours truly,
MAYOR CITY
cc:
The Honourable Christy Clarke Premier of British Columbia premier@gov.bc.ca
The Honourable Shirley Bond Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour shirley.bond.MLA@leg.bc.ca
The Honourable Peter Fassbender Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development peter.fassbender.MLA@leg.bc.ca
The Honourable Coralee Oakes Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction coralee.oakes.MLA@leg.bc.ca