In all the current discussion about how to increase GST revenue, there seems to be an avoidance of one obvious area into which to expand the tax; short-term holiday letting.
From the start, this lucrative source of income has avoided the GST while benefiting from negative gearing. But hotels, hostels and bed-and-breakfasts pay GST. Why? Too hard? Surely not. Pressure from the development lobby? I wonder.
Taxing holiday-let houses properly might even result in some of the oversupply returning to badly needed residential housing.
Anny Reed, Byron Bay
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
