September 20, 2016
ALBANY — Opponents of Airbnb are back with a new television and digital ad campaign that accuses the online home-sharing service of avoiding corporate taxes worldwide.
The ads take aim at Airbnb’s pronouncements that it is willing to pay hotel-type taxes to localities.
“Truth is, it’s just a slick marketing ploy by this multibillion-dollar corporation,” the ad states. “What Airbnb doesn’t like to talk about is that they’re running a sophisticated tax avoidance scheme.”
The ad claims the company uses over 40 subsidiaries as tax shelters that allow the company to only pay “a pittance” of the taxes it owes governments. It says in France, its largest global market, Airbnb paid less than $77,000 in taxes in 2015.
The ads conclude by calling on Airbnb to “start paying your fair share.”
The media buy, which will be in the high six figures and will begin running Tuesday, is being paid for by ShareBetter, a coalition of politicians, housing and tenant groups, and unions fighting Airbnb. The ads will run mostly on cable news networks in New York City as well as in Washington, D.C., and on various social media platforms.