The hospitality lobby also wants hosts to be made ineligible for a sales-tax exemption for businesses that make less than $30,000 a year, meaning they’d pay the levy on all their earnings. And, it said the government should ensure foreign digital platforms operating in Canada pay income tax on their domestic earnings. Alex Dagg, Airbnb’s director of public policy in Canada, said the company sends income-tax reminders to its local hosts before the filing deadline, and that it is charging and paying tourism taxes where they have been applied, like in the province of British Columbia and some Ontario municipalities. Cities that have imposed them include Ottawa, Sudbury and Barrie. (The Logic)

Talking point: The association is citing a new figure in its claims: in May, the federal auditor general estimated Canada lost $169 million in uncollected sales tax revenue on purchases from foreign digital platforms in 2017. That figure includes Airbnb, as well as online shopping, ride-sharing platforms and streaming services. Airbnb has said it will collect sales tax if required to do so by law, but unlike Facebook, has not committed to doing so voluntarily. The government has sent mixed signals on whether it will impose such rules. In March 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would not impose taxes on foreign digital platforms, but Finance Canada told The Logic that August it was studying the issue. Conservative MPs on the international trade committee oppose such a levy, while the NDP is in favour of it.