With the Internet, you can't stop people with spare rooms and people who need a place to stay from finding each other. We now stand at a crossroads.
Down one road we recognize this is a new kind of interaction enabled by technology, which leads to legalization, with light regulation to deal with new patterns of abuse that aren't handled effectively by existing rules. Reasonable taxes and fees so the new industry covers the additional costs it's imposing on government and pays its fair share to the city, state, and country.
Down the other road is heavy-handed regulation, and punitive taxes and fees that drive small entrepreneurs and the websites that enable their business model out of the legitimate market and into the shadows. AirBNB is legitimate, but if they stop servicing an area due to regulation, I'm sure a sketchier copycat will try to take over that market. The government misses out on taxes and fees from the grey/black-market transactions. Hosts / guests that have been abused or scammed will be reluctant to seek recourse through the legal system if it will mean admitting their own illegal conduct, and will have to either endure their suffering or try to self-help.
It's really the same story as abortion, drugs, or Bitcoins.
Down one road we recognize this is a new kind of interaction enabled by technology, which leads to legalization, with light regulation to deal with new patterns of abuse that aren't handled effectively by existing rules. Reasonable taxes and fees so the new industry covers the additional costs it's imposing on government and pays its fair share to the city, state, and country.
Down the other road is heavy-handed regulation, and punitive taxes and fees that drive small entrepreneurs and the websites that enable their business model out of the legitimate market and into the shadows. AirBNB is legitimate, but if they stop servicing an area due to regulation, I'm sure a sketchier copycat will try to take over that market. The government misses out on taxes and fees from the grey/black-market transactions. Hosts / guests that have been abused or scammed will be reluctant to seek recourse through the legal system if it will mean admitting their own illegal conduct, and will have to either endure their suffering or try to self-help.
It's really the same story as abortion, drugs, or Bitcoins.