DeLeo: Short-term rentals 'can't operate in a vacuum'
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House Speaker Robert DeLeo said short-term rentals will be addressed next session.
Previewing an issue for next session, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Tuesday that whether to regulate short-term private room rental businesses, like Airbnb, will be the "next test" of the Legislature.
"I suspect that that's going to be one of the - similar to Uber - I think it's going to be the Uber issue of next session," DeLeo told reporters Tuesday, likening it to the challenge lawmakers had in tackling ride-sharing industry regulation earlier this session.
DeLeo said he spoke with a national representative from Airbnb last week and has heard from opponents who want to share their concerns about the possibility of new regulations. The Winthrop Democrat added that he's asked Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, to draft a summary of the "major issues."
A Senate plan to expand the state's lodging tax to include online rentals in order to partially cover an expansion of the earned income tax credit was ultimately dropped during negotiations over an economic development package signed by Gov. Charlie Baker over the summer.
Asked if the provision to tax Airbnb-type rentals would be revived and whether they should be taxed, DeLeo said, "They want to be taxed because they want to be regulated and they want to do business here."
"I very seldom get anyone who calls me and said 'please, please tax me' and I'm presuming that their desire to be taxed is so to get them into doing business here in Massachusetts and to get some regulations. And we're going to have to get some regulations. Something like this just can't operate in a vacuum, so I think that we have a lot of work to do in terms of what's the right mix," DeLeo said.
Pressed again on whether taxes would be an option, DeLeo said "I think everything and anything is on the table."
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