Smaller Tasmanian councils dealing with tourist influxes could benefit from a sector-wide user tax, similar to one proposed by Airbnb in Queensland.

Airbnb has called on the Queensland government to introduce the tax for users of short stay accommodation in the state – including hotels – to help support smaller councils.

Airbnb Australia and New Zealand head of public policy Brent Thomas said smaller holiday town councils can have their budgets stretched by big influxes of tourist numbers, with an extra charge directing money back into those councils a way to help maintain the infrastructure needed to support that.

The fee would come as an additional charge for those booking the accommodation, rather than a tax or levy tacked onto a rates bill like those already implemented by some councils on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

The Queensland Labor government, the opposition leader, and the Queensland Tourism Industry Council have all talked down the idea.

An industry reference group involving Airbnb, local councils, and the hotel industry, has been reviewing short-term accommodation in Queensland.

Within months, that group is due to provide recommendations to the Queensland government.

This comes as the Tasmanian Legislative Council continues an inquiry into the growth of short stay accommodation, its impact on residential housing and tourism, and related regulatory issues – with the government’s proposed legislation due to be released for public comment this week.

The inquiry has heard the sector is in need of better regulatory management to prevent rental and housing pressures in pockets of Tasmania.

Airbnb, in their submission to the TLC inquiry, state the number of guests using the service in Tasmanian over 12 months to May of 2017 was 218,000 - with an average stay of three nights.

Modelling on a 5 per cent charge, somebody paying $100 for a night would pay an extra $5 dollars.

Paying a similar fee, users of the app in Tasmania could boost revenue for local councils by over $3.2 million.

Airbnb’s TLC inquiry also outlined the many instances of taxes they collect in jurisdictions worldwide.

They stated they were “actively seeking” to expand their tax collection and remittance program globally.

Many of those local programs send money back into critical services, their submissions states, though they also seek to direct revenue to new initiatives.

In Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles, these kind of taxes on short-term rentals are put towards affordable housing and homelessness programs.

In May of 2017 there were 4,000 active Airbnb listings in Tasmania.

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