Airbnb Accounted for Nearly $46 Million in Taxes for Nashville in 2022
Key Takeaways
- Airbnb pumped nearly $46 million into Nashville’s local economy in 2022 — money collected went to housing affordability, schools, police & fire, and more.
- Short-term rental tax revenue helped bolster the city's affordable housing efforts contributing nearly one quarter of last year’s Barnes Fund grants.
Key Takeaways
- Airbnb pumped nearly $46 million into Nashville’s local economy in 2022 — money collected went to housing affordability, schools, police & fire, and more.
- Short-term rental tax revenue helped bolster the city's affordable housing efforts contributing nearly one quarter of last year’s Barnes Fund grants.
Airbnb recently released 2022 data on collection and remittance of sales and local occupancy taxes in Tennessee, including those specific to Davidson County, and the numbers are quite significant.
In 2022, Airbnb collected over $120 million in sales and occupancy taxes in Tennessee. In Nashville alone, Airbnb collected and remitted nearly $46 million in state, local sales, and occupancy taxes in Davidson County combined.1
That is money that goes directly to help Nashville’s public schools and teachers, policemen and firefighters, Metro employees and more. Importantly, Airbnb and the other short-term rental (STR) platforms also serve as a critical revenue source for addressing our city’s affordable housing needs. While the overwhelming majority of hotel/motel taxes goes towards funding the downtown core and tourism promotion, legislation passed in 2020 enabled Metro to redirect one percent of the six percent hotel/motel tax charged on all STRs to the Barnes Fund, one of the city’s primary affordable housing mechanisms. Just that has generated more than $3.5 million for the Barnes Fund last year alone.
“Airbnb is proud of the contributions Hosts and guests utilizing its platform make to the local economy in Nashville, particularly when it comes to tax revenue,” said Viviana Jordan, Airbnb’s Head of Public Policy for the Southeast U.S. “Back in 2020, we were proud to work with state lawmakers to advance legislation that facilitated the collection of local tax dollars across the state. Today, we remain committed to working with policymakers to ensure that tax revenue generated by short-term rentals benefits all Nashvillians and can more directly go to supporting housing affordability efforts.”
For local Airbnb hosts, the platform allows them to do things like pay off debt, put themselves and their children through school, and simply be able to continue to afford living in Nashville. In fact, almost 50 percent of Hosts say that hosting on Airbnb has helped them stay in their home and afford rising costs of living.2
“Being an Airbnb host has given me the income I’ve needed to stay in Nashville and pursue my career as an artist,” said local host Mark Mulch. “I always say my first solo album was funded by Airbnb! Not only does Airbnb help pay for my projects and touring, it provides me supplemental income that goes a long way to help me and my business thrive here. I also get to meet people from around the world and introduce them to our wonderful city!”
Since 2016, Airbnb has collected and remitted over $290 million in sales and occupancy taxes in Tennessee.3