Tel Aviv is looking to raise the city’s property tax on Airbnb apartments.
By World Israel News Staff
The Tel Aviv Municipality wants to raise the city’s property tax on Airbnb apartments to 120.89 shekels per square meter, more than twice that of residential apartments, Israel business news site Globes reports.
The city argues that the phenomenon of short-term apartment rentals through websites like Airbnb has grown. Its “sharp rise” has damaged the quality of life of long-term residents and negatively impacted prices of apartments in general, the municipality says. To offset these ill effects, the municipality suggested the tax increase.
In Israel, the property tax is called the Arnona. Payments are typically made in two-month installments and a tenant’s payment is determined by the size of his residence.
Globes reports that Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said, “The new policy that we are promoting in the framework of the municipal tax order for 2019 is intended to regulate the growing number of apartments that are becoming full-time vacation apartments, which in the long term raises the cost of housing for young people in the city, as well as the total cost of housing.”
The decision requires the approval of the Tel Aviv City Council and afterwards the Ministry of the Interior.
There was no indication in the municipality’s statement that the move to raise the property tax on Airbnb rentals was a punishment for Airbnb’s Nov. 19 decision to ban listings from its site of Jewish-owned apartments located in Judea and Samaria. Airbnb’s statement announcing the decision made it clear the reason was political.
Immediately following Airbnb’s announcement, Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin promised legal action against the rental company both in Israel and in the U.S.
The apartment rental-listing company has since been accused of discrimination for targeting only Jewish-owned homes and singling out only one conflict zone in the world. Reports say that the Trump administration and Congress may punish Airbnb for its decision. Illinois ruled that Airbnb’s ban violated state law.
A recent lawsuit filed against Airbnb in San Francisco alleges that the company, in delisting Jewish properties in Judea and Samaria, is engaging in an “anti-Jewish Discriminatory Policy … adopted with the incitement and encouragement of Human Rights Watch and other organizations associated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS).”