Talking Points: Short-stay tax will not solve rental crisis

The Mercury, 5 May 2026

New 'misguided' Tasmanian short-stay tax will not solve rental crisis, critics warn

A half-baked short stay levy won't fix Tasmania's housing crisis, Helen Burnet writes

Another month, another report confirming what Tasmanians already know from bitter experience: our housing situation is dire and getting worse. Rents are spiralling, the vacancy rate has fallen to an alarming 0.5 per cent, homelessness is rising, and close to 5500 are on the waitlist for social housing.

The rapid expansion of short-stay accommodation has cannibalised properties from the long-term rental pool. This is particularly in high demand areas like Hobart, placing increased pressure on renters.

It is estimated there are about 58,000 rental households across Tasmania. In unsustainably tight markets such as Hobart's rental market, any removal of whole homes or apartments to short stay drives up rental prices.

Against this backdrop, the government's response is the Short Stay Levy Bill. Yet this Bill does nothing to directly rein in the short stay industry. It is purely a revenue raising measure.

When first announced back in 2024, the 5 per cent levy on short-stay accommodation bookings was expected to raise about $11m a rounding error in the context of the state budget. Even that modest estimate appears uncertain. When asked during Treasury briefings how much the levy would actually generate, the answer was simple: they do not know. Why? Because the government lacks even basic, up-to-date data on the size and activity of the short-stay sector.

This is deeply concerning. The short-stay accommodation industry, dominated by global platforms, operates with limited transparency. Like big tech more broadly, it resists regulation and avoids sharing meaningful data. The short-stay big boys often escape contributing their fair share to the communities they profit from, and are fast losing any social licence they might once have had.

And yet the government has shown no appetite to bring it to heel.

The Short Stay Levy Bill could direct revenue raised towards social housing, alleviating the social housing waitlist, or assisting one in four Tasmanians in the rental market by increasing funding to the chronically underfunded Residential Tenancy Commissioner or the Tenants' Union. Tasmania's proposed 5 per cent levy is much more modest than Victoria's at 7.5 per cent.

Instead, revenue will be used to offset the cost of abolishing stamp duty for first-home buyers.

This is misguided policy. Economists and industry experts have repeatedly warned that stamp duty concessions tend to inflate house prices, benefiting existing homeowners and real estate agents more than prospective buyers. At a time when supply is critically constrained, such measures do little to put more homes into the market where they are desperately needed.

If the government was serious about tackling this crisis, it would start with transparency and accountability reforms, like requiring short-stay platforms to provide accurate and detailed data on listings, occupancy rates, and geographic distribution. This is not a new idea. Academics, local governments and housing advocates have called for it, for years. The parliament even legislated it back in 2019 when it passed the Short Stay Accommodation Act. But the last data reported by the government was from 2024.

Without this information, planners, housing advocates and policy makers are flying blind. That is why I will be moving an amendment to this Bill to require public reporting of short stay levy data by location. This is a modest, cost-neutral reform that would at least give councils and policymakers a clearer picture of what is happening in their communities. Better data will not solve the housing crisis overnight, but it is an essential foundation for any serious response.

For too long this government has prioritised the interests of property investors, tourists, and multinational corporations at the expense of Tasmanian renters.