Charlene Joyce

I am the owner of a small owner-occupied AirB&B In New Hampton. I am not necessarily located in a high traffic area, nor am I located on the lake. My traffic is seasonal & quite transient. At the present, I am charging the most I reasonably can considering not only my location, but the fact that I share space with my guests. As things sit, it is just barely worth my time considering not only the amount of work involved in turning over the room, but the wear & tear on my home. The prospect of having to pay a rooms and meals tax on such a small operation would put me out of business. While I totally appreciate the intent of this bill, it hurts small businesses like myself, where small amounts of money are exchanged. It’s one thing to impose an AirBnB rooms & meals tax on a high ticket item like a home on the lake that bills out on the average of $3500 a week, but for someone making $100 a night, it’s not equitable. As a retired person on a very fixed income, this presents a make or break scenario. While I don’t necessarily dispute imposing a rooms and meals tax on AirBnB’s, it’s all relative. I hope you will consider re-wording HB 1068 with specific income guidelines which would exclude the little guy. That seems only fair.