Why overtaxing short-term rentals is a pointless plan
Targeting property investors who list their homes on sites such as Airbnb won’t create higher vacancies or lower rents for permanent tenants.
Short-term rentals are typically 1 to 2 percent of the overall housing stock in each state. (Image source: Shutterstock.com)
State governments across Australia have no meaningful policies for easing the chronic undersupply of rental properties - but they do have a talent for using the rental shortage as an excuse to raise extra revenue from the housing market.
One of the primary tactics politicians of any party or persuasion have is that they tend to scapegoat a section of the community and blame them for the problem that they (the politicians) have created.
In the c…
