Community News

TAX REVENUE FROM SHORT-TERM RENTALS UP AFTER COVID DROP

AROUND $2.7M RAISED FROM SHORT-TERM RENTALS IN FIRST HALF OF 2021

STEVE CORNWELL scornwell@metroland.com

City revenue from short-term rentals is showing signs of improvement but is still down from prepandemic levels.

According to a Mississauga staff report, the city collected $2.75 million in municipal accommodation tax (MAT) between January and July this year, down from $2.85 million during the same period in 2020.

MAT is a four per cent tax added to the cost of a hotel room, or Air Airbnblike accommodation, rented for 30 days or less.

Around 50 per cent of MAT revenue goes to the city's tourism entity, Mississauga Tourism, which is

tasked with promoting the city as a destination location. The other half goes to a discretionary fund for

tourism-related projects and to fund festivals.

The 2020 numbers show over $800,000 in revenue in

January and February prior to COVID-19 measures coming into place, compared to under $228,000 in the first two months of 2021.

After February, reported MAT revenues for the rest of 2021 were higher than those in 2020.

In 2019, the city collected over $12 million from MAT tax, the report showed.

That same year, the city projected that it was going to raise over $57 million in MAT revenue through to 2023.

While projected revenues are likely to fall well below the target, city councillor and Tourism Mississauga board member Pat Saito said the tourism entity is in a "good position" because it had over $10 million to start and spent minimal money during the pandemic.

"Because we didn't really spend a lot in 2020, we still have enough money in our budget," she said.

"If this lasted, you know, another two years, then we would have to re-evaluate."

The improving MAT revenues indicate increasing demand in Mississauga's hotel and other shortterm rental accommodations industry, which was hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions.

In March 2020, Saito told council that upwards of 90 per cent of employees at major hotels in the city were enduring layoffs.

Greater Toronto Area hotels and short-term rental providers may also get a boost from the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit, which provides up to $400 for eligible accommodation costs incurred for a trip inside the province.

The MAT tax as approved by Mississauga council in 2017 and came into effect on April 2020.

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2021-11-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

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