Yucatan hotel owners demand a 16% tax for renting rooms or houses through ‘apps’

They ask the government for an equal payment of taxes by all.

MERIDA — The Mexican Chamber of Hotels in Yucatan (CMHY) reported that they will ask for people renting rooms in their homes through digital platforms such as Airbnb to be required to pay 16 percent of taxes, and not only three percent, as applied by governments such as Mexico City.

Héctor Navarrete Medina, president of the CMHY, said the hotel sector is not against the implementation of this new modality, however, it is important that everybody has the same conditions to work.

This Sunday Milenio News reported that entrepreneurs and the government will accelerate the meeting to regulate the technological applications that are used to hire accommodation, following the announcement that in Mexico City owners will be charged a three percent tax when offering this service through a cell-phone app.

It is estimated that in Yucatan there are about 800 ads in applications such as Airbnb (which work similarly to Uber) for renting complete houses, single rooms and apartments.

“The impact can’t be measured yet, because we do not have an exact number of how many people carry out this activity yet, but the partners have to increase even more, hence the importance of regularization by the authorities,” he explained.

Source: sipse.com/milenio