THUNDER BAY – A September deadline looms for city staff to report back to council with whether an increase in the municipal accommodation tax (MAT) is warranted and what it could look like.
Although there was very little discussion when At-large Coun. Kasey Etreni brought forward the motion, an earlier presentation from the Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) discussed the issue and some councillors weighed in on it.
CEDC chief executive officer Jamie Taylor and Paul Pepe, manager of Tourism Thunder Bay, made their annual tourism report presentation to council, which included a more detailed look at the revenues generated from MAT and what the CEDC’s portion of those funds were.
The revenues in 2023 were just over $3-million - with the CEDC collected nearly $1.6 million of that. Earlier numbers from staff indicated that the city has received more than $12.3 million in revenue since the inception of the MAT in 2018.
The revenue received is divided equally between the city and the CEDC.
The topic of short-term rentals and whether to include the MAT on those properties was posed to both Pepe and Taylor.
“This issue is one that is being looked at across North America,” Pepe answered.
“A lot of cities have already brought in regulations and legislation around collected MAT from the short-term rental market, including Toronto and Hamilton.
“That’s what we’re looking for to level the playing field so to speak. The hotels pay a lot of money in property taxes annually to their communities, and collect the MAT from travellers.
"If we are bringing in more events to Thunder Bay, and more visitors are utilizing short term rentals that are not collecting the MAT then we are not regenerating the funds into the city that we should be.”
At-large Coun. Shelby Ch’ng reminded council that the issue is being addressed through the intergovernmental affairs committee with a report due back soon.
The MAT was introduced in 2018 at an established rate of four per cent.
