Cape Coral city council approves annual business tax on vacation rentals

Cape Coral’s city council has approved a business tax to be levied on the rentals in a move to keep vacation rentals in Southwest Florida safe.

Safety comes with a cost. For owners of vacation rental homes in Cape Coral, that cost will depend on how many bedrooms are in the house.

“We don’t believe it’s a heavy burden on any property owner to pay the tax, but we believe it’s essential in terms of doing business,” said Councilmember Tom Hayden.

Later this year, Cape Coral will impose a $5.50 tax per bedroom. As an example, a four-bedroom vacation rental would see a tax of $22.

Each owner would pay that fee once every year. This tax will ensure that smoke alarms are intact and the pools are safe in these homes.

Hayden said this tax is needed since Cape Coral is growing fast.

“It’s important because we believe the property owners of these vacation rentals should share their conducting business. It’s really no different than hotels, and because of that, we believe they should be a part of this tax,” said Hayden.

Currently, there are about 5,000 vacation rental properties in Cape Coral.

In a council meeting on Feb. 2, Councilmember Dan Sheppard said this tax would ensure safe rental homes.

Sheppard said, “one of my concerns is safety. This way, we can know there are proper smoke alarms and things like that and also that the pool was safe. We know a lot of hotels and motels had to change their pools so that children cant be sucked and held against the drain and drown.”

Councilmember Hayden said the city would make sure property owners fully understand what this tax is about before it goes into effect.