Ohio House Development Committee Proponent Testimony — House Bill 161, Nick Ciolli

Summary

Written-only proponent testimony of Nick Ciolli, Research Analyst for the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, to the Ohio House Development Committee on House Bill 161. The testimony states that the bill applies the sales and use tax to short-term rental stays and includes them in the lodging tax base; CCAO supports both provisions and focuses on the sales tax provision. It states that counties can levy up to a 1.50% sales tax, in increments of 0.05%. It argues that rental platforms are better suited than property owners to collect and remit taxes, and thanks Representative Adam Bird and Representative Jim Thomas for bringing the legislation forward.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                             Ohio House Development Committee
                            Proponent Testimony House Bill 161
                                 Nick Ciolli, Research Analyst
                                        (Written Only)

Chairman Hoops, Vice Chair Lorenz, Ranking Member Abdullahi, and members of the House
Development Committee, my name is Nick Ciolli, the County Commissioners Association of
Ohio                     . Thank you for the opportunity to provide written proponent
testimony for House Bill 161.

House Bill 161 applies the sales and use tax to short-term rental stays (the bill defines
       -
rooms) and requires that short-term rental stays be included in the lodging tax base for any
existing and future lodging taxes. CCAO is supportive of both provisions but will focus this
testimony on the sales tax provision.

The sales tax is the primary source of revenue for the county general fund and is the
lifeblood of county government. The sales tax typically accounts for between 45% to 55% of
a                                      . Counties can also levy sales taxes for dedicated
purposes such as the 9-1-1 system, EMS services, permanent improvements, and others as
allowed by the Revised Code.

Counties can levy up to a 1.50% sales tax, in increments of 0.05%, with an additional 0.50%
authority existing for detention facility construction and operation if certain criteria are met.
                                                                                            Fifty-

0.50% detention facility authority. These counties are typically in the Appalachian region and
western Ohio. A map of counties and their sales tax rate is attached to the end of this
testimony.

When a county is maxed out, they have much less budget flexibility than other counties
since their ability to generate additional revenue is hampered. They rely primarily on
economic growth and base broadening for new revenue. House Bill 161 broadens the base
by incorporating transactions that are currently not taxed into the sales tax base.

The short-term rental industry has changed significantly over the past decade, let alone
multiple decades. Excluding these entities, which were once primarily bed and breakfasts,
                          properties that serve transient guests that have five or more
rooms) may have made sense when they were truly mom-and-pop establishments that may
have struggled to comply with tax law, but times have changed.

Online platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo have transformed the industry.              Q4 2024
shareholder letter reported gross revenue of $11.1 billion in 2024, net income of $2.6
billion, and 491.5 million bookings. If each of those bookings was only for a single night,
Airbnb would have accounted for a combined 1.3 million years worth of short-term rental
stays.

House Bill 161 recognizes the changing industry by not only applying the sales and use tax,
but also maintaining the tax administration burden protection for the actual owners of short-
                                           have radically changed the industry, but at the
end of the day many of these properties are still owned by private individuals who may be
renting rooms or houses as a side business. For those who use rental platforms such as
Airbnb and Vrbo, the collection and remittance of sales and use taxes and the lodging tax
must be done by the platform, not the actual rental owner.

These platforms are better suited to collect and remit taxes than the actual property owners
and in many cases already do so. According to                       , the company already
collects and remits lodging taxes in Athens County, Cuyahoga County, the City of Cincinnati,
and the City of Cleveland. They also list 51 other states, territories, and the District of
Columbia and 17 foreign countries that they currently collect and remit taxes in.

If Airbnb can collect and remit taxes in India, Malaysia, and Switzerland, it can collect and
remit taxes in Ashtabula County, Erie County, and Hocking County.

House Bill 161 is a good step towards a more equitable Ohio tax code. Broadening the base
of any tax helps keep tax rates down by providing for more revenue without requiring
governments increase rates. The base broadening in House Bill 161, while it will aid all
counties, will be particularly helpful for those counties that are out of sales tax flexibility.

CCAO would like to thank Representative Adam Bird and Representative Jim Thomas for
bringing the legislation forward and request that the House Development Committee
consider it favorably.




                                                          CCAO Proponent Testimony, House Bill 161
                                                                                        04.29.25


File and source

File

2025-04-30_development_testimony_testimony-5575.pdf

Size

789,560 bytes

SHA-256

23e835565d4b387f9b5dca6cfa805c8f05eb7312ce085a9258ca67787a867140

Our copy

2025-04-30_development_testimony_testimony-5575.pdf

Original

No public link identified.