MPs adopt at first reading a text to increase taxation on furnished tourist accommodation

Towards less advantageous taxation for Airbnb accommodation. The National Assembly voted on Monday January 29 for a text to further regulate the furnished tourist rental sector, thus hoping to encourage longer-term rentals in a context of housing crisis. The most emblematic measure intends to reduce to 30% the tax reduction rate from which income from the rental of furnished tourist accommodation benefits, compared to 71% or 50% currently, with an exception in “very sparse rural areas” where the reduction would remain at 71%.

The transpartisan bill, carried by the Socialist Party and Renaissance, was adopted at first reading by 100 votes to 25 and will have to be examined in the Senate. All left-wing deputies, independents from Liot, and most of those in the majority voted for. Conversely, almost all of the deputies from the Les Républicains party and the Rassemblement National voted against, invoking in particular the defense of “small owners”.

New regulatory tools for mayors

The text also includes energy performance diagnosis obligations for furnished tourist accommodation, and new regulatory tools for mayors, including the possibility of reducing from 120 days to 90 days per year the maximum duration during which a main residence can be rented.

“Rather than making the current framework more complex (…) we want to work with more cities in implementing existing rules”, declared Monday Emmanuel Marill, Europe director of Airbnb, in a press release sent to AFP. The director of Oxfam France, Cécile Duflot, welcomed the vote, and called for going further by removing “all the tax advantages which favor the rental of short-term furnished tourist accommodation”. Many elected officials, particularly on the seaside, denounce the shortage of housing in their territories due to the explosion in the number of furnished tourist accommodation.