17-05-2025
If passed, bill would impact South Carolina's short-term rental process
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – If you've ever used a short-term rental company like Airbnb or VRBO — you might want to continue reading, because a bill in the South Carolina State House may change the way the companies operate.
The bill, which passed in the state house, could change how taxes on short-term rentals are collected.
The legislation is concerning to some property management companies.
Currently, when booking through a short-term rental platform, the service collects accommodations and sales taxes to then send to the state.
If ratified, renters would after paying taxes directly to a property manager.
David Bergmann works for with Bluefield Realty Group, a Greenville-based short-term rental compony; he said the change would be bad for business.
'This would leave our business in a spot where we may not be here a year from now,' he said.
The bill's sponsor, Representative Lee Hewitt (R – Georgetown) admitted the bill has been controversial, because it deals with tax money that goes to counties and cities.
'The cities and the county said, 'because these are rentals and commercial residential type properties, it demands more services from us, so we need to collect more taxes from them,' so if it is a house, which is what it is now being used as — it should be taxed like a house,' Hewitt said.
Airbnb called the bill unnecessary because the marketplace platforms currently collect and send accommodation taxes on behalf of property management companies.
'[It] create[s] substantial complications by creating three separate regimes for collecting local taxes, something no other state requires,' a company statement reads.
For Bergmann, it's all about power and control. He said lawmakers want to see the industry revert back to what it was 20 years ago.
'But the way that the industry has moved is towards third party intermediary, who protects the consumers,' he continued. 'The legacy property managers and those that represent them would like to introduce bills that would take us back to the old way of doing things.'
Airbnb added that the bill would create privacy concerns for guests, because it would require accommodation intermediaries to provide confidential consumer information — including credit card numbers — to hosts.
If the bill is passed by the Senate in 2026 and signed by Governor Henry McMaster, it will become law.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
