Airbnb said it will start collecting San Francisco’s 14 percent hotel tax on behalf of hosts. The move counters critics who’ve claimed that the company has willfully dodged taxes to get ahead of traditional competitors in the hotel industry. But as Airbnb has grown up and is now poised to command a possible $10 billion valuation from private investors, they’ve said they want to play by city rules. David Hantman, Airbnb’s Head of Global Public Policy, wrote: “We have repeatedly said that we believe our community in San Francisco should pay its fair share of taxes. We know from countless discussions with our hosts that they want to pay taxes, but some of these rules are arcane and difficult to follow. Some hosts have even tried to pay taxes in San Francisco and been turned away.”
