SWFL could be missing out on money from bed taxes

JetBlue Park and Southwest Florida’s beautiful beaches are just two of the beneficiaries of Lee County’s Tourist Development Tax or commonly known as ‘bed tax.”

The bed tax is a local tax you pay anytime you stay in a traditional hotel or rental. But take your search online to a room or home sharing service and how that tax gets collected gets dicey.

Airbnb worked out a deal with Lee County and paid $903,000 in bed taxes last year.

“So far Airbnb has made it easy to take care of the taxes behind the scenes so I don’t have to do extra work,” said Jaime Lattin, an Airbnb host.

But with other popular home sharing sites like VRBO, HomeAway and Flipkey it’s currently up to the homeowner to collect and pay the tax.

“I am interested to see what the way would be with the other ones. I’d like to check out the competition to see if it’d be more lucrative,” Lattin said.

The Lee County Clerk says 90 percent do pay that 5 percent tax.

“I think that you have to do that if you’re a tourist area because how else will you support all the things? The tourists use everything and they don’t pay the normal taxes that the homeowners do. So I think having the bed tax on there helps pay the amenities for the city,” said Diana Goodrich, who uses VRBO.

But many services don’t identify the homeowners, making it easy to remain anonymous to the county.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the guests coming,” Lattin said.

The Lee County Clerk says they’re currently working out a deal with Expedia to better regulate the bed tax on VRBO and HomeAway.