A new trend in repelling tourists is spreading. Will it come to NY? If so, will it help tame our wild property tax bills?
Anti-tourist sentiment is rising around the world. Locals are fed up with visitors adding to high housing costs, and destroying access to affordable housing.
This has recently been seen among the Spanish islands, as well as Barcelona, where locals met inbound tourists with water guns to scare them away.
Alaska is also contemplating how to deter and block more cruise ship passengers from arriving.
Many parts of Florida are also reeling from the recent massive influx of not only tourists, and home buyers from COlombia, but all of the New Yorkers that have moved south since COVID for more freedom and lower property taxes.
Tools Available To Keep Out More Tourists
Of course, physically confronting tourists does not sound like a great or safe solution.
Local governments do have many tools at their disposal to reduce tourism and out of area home buyers to protect their finances and to keep housing affordable for local residents and essential workers.
This can include:
- Banning short term rentals like Airbnb
- Establishing new and raising current taxes on vacant homes
- More taxes on second homes, investment properties, and rentals
- Regulations that make it unappealing to own property as an investor
- Raising sales taxes
- Limiting inbound flights and visas
- Ending promotions that advertise destinations
What Could The Outcome Be?
Fewer visitors and out of area owners will likely mean lower occupancy rates, and lower rental rates. In turn that will bring down property values.
That should directly translate to lower property tax assessments and annual bills.
Not many people could envision NYC without tourism. Yet, that doesn’t mean some of these measures couldn’t be applied to more residential parts of New York State. Which would alleviate the financial burden on residents and workers.
If you can’t wait for this trend to catch on and have an impact where you own real estate, you can always contact Property Tax Adjusters, Ltd. today and appeal your tax bill.