L.A. Warning Airbnb Hosts About Their Tax-Collecting Obligations

(Chris Goldberg)

Subletting one’s home or renting out space on your own property has long been a way for some Los Angeles residents to earn some extra income without telling the taxman. And the rise of home-sharing services like Airbnb and VRBO has only encouraged more people to make money off their unused rooms. But the city of Los Angeles is now sending stern reminders to people who list properties on these sites that they have to pay taxes similar to those paid by hotel operators.

The L.A. Times reports that the city has begun sending warnings to residents advertising rentals on Airbnb and other sites that they are to collect taxes from guests on behalf of the city.

Additionally, city regulations [PDF] on these taxes state that, “The amount of tax shall be separately stated from the amount of the rent charged and each transient shall receive a receipt for payment from the operator,” and that hotel operators are not allowed to state in any manner “that the tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the operator, or that it will not be added to the rent, or that, if added, any part will be refunded except in the manner herein provided.”

So someone advertising a room in L.A. for $100/night can’t tell the tenant, “don’t worry about the taxes; I’ll just take it out of my cut.”

The big problem for the city has been that it’s become very difficult for officials to track down contact info for the landlords who list properties on Airbnb. It’s “like looking for a needle in a haystack,” explains the assistant director of the city’s office of finance to the Times.

And so the city has decided to send these warnings online directly through the websites.

“It might very well be that a lot of these folks are just not aware that they even have the obligation to pay,” said Councilman Paul Krekorian. Now these hosts can’t plead ignorance.

But a rep for Airbnb tells the Times that it already informs hosts to their tax responsibilities and that the site has an L.A.-specific section on its Responsible Hosting information page.

Looking at this section, it only states that both L.A. County and the City of Los Angeles impose transient occupancy taxes and directs hosts to the appropriate regulations for each. One could argue that Airbnb could provide more helpful information to its hosts in L.A.

These types of services have come under fire in various markets around the country. In addition to issues of unpaid tax obligations, some residents have complained about Airbnb landlords using the site to turn vacant homes into de facto hotels, with new tenants constantly moving in and out.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

The Internet Speaks Up: FCC’s Fast Lane Proposal Would Be “A Cluster f**k Worse Than Comcast’s Customer Service”

The widget that sites supporting Battle For The Net are displaying today.

It’s been a long road since an appeals court threw out the FCC’s Open Internet Rule — the one most of us call net neutrality — back in January. The FCC proposed a replacement rule in May, but there’s one small snag: it’s terrible. The proposal currently on the table would allow large ISPs to charge businesses for prioritized access, effectively splitting the internet into fast and slow lanes and choosing for consumers what sites and services they can best access. With the for-really-reals final deadline for the public to have its say fast approaching, today a large swath of the internet is speaking up for net neutrality and asking their visitors and customers to do the same.

During the first comment period, late-night comedian John Oliver ended up breaking the FCC’s comment site, but that didn’t stop the internet from having its say. Comments are still pouring in — at last count, the FCC had received over 1.3 million — and organizers of the Battle For The Net protest are hoping for one large, final push.

Internet-based businesses are joining the chorus. Etsy, Reddit, and Netflix are all displaying banners urging site visitors to contact lawmakers in support of net neutrality. Kickstarter has devoted their front page to the effort. And Tumblr, in true Tumblr fashion, has simply created a post that is quickly finding its way reblogged through the service — complete with a video featuring explosions, explanations, and actor Mark Ruffalo.

Other major internet companies, including WordPress and Mozilla, are also backing the effort.

Some lawmakers have jumped in as well, including Senators Ed Markey (MA) and Angus King (ME).

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian urged businesses and consumers to participate in the protest in an op-ed for The Verge. Ohanian called today’s internet “the most democratic vehicle for free expression the world has ever known,” adding, “It’s an open and free market for small and large businesses, giving any inventor in her garage the hope that she’s creating tomorrow’s Google or next year’s Facebook. It’s where we build friendships, conduct commerce, create and destroy; it’s where we live more and more of our lives everyday.”

That, Ohanian said, is why the FCC’s proposal must not go through. It would be a disaster of the most epic proportions: “We can’t let this happen. Really,” Ohanian wrote. “This would be a clusterfuck worse than Comcast’s customer service.”

Consumer advocacy groups are not in the business of sick burns, as Ohanian apparently is, but they too have been objecting to Wheeler’s “fast lane” proposal in strong terms.

The ACLU, which is advocating for Title II classification as well as asking the FCC to hold hearings on the matter outside of Washington, D.C., writes, “You wouldn’t like the Internet when it’s angry. And it’s kinda angry,” before describing all of the ways fast lanes would hurt individuals and small businesses.

Public Knowledge said in a blog post that, “We are thrilled to see so many sites speaking out about the real impact of net neutrality. These sites rely on an open Internet, and they know that without strong rules upholding net neutrality their future is in peril.”

Free Press is one of the groups helping organize today’s protest. Their president and CEO Craig Aaron said, “The Internet is united against the FCC’s Net Neutrality-killing proposal.” He added, “Today we’ll see the Internet slow down as millions of people rise up against this threat to our rights to connect and communicate. There aren’t many issues that could bring together such a diverse array of groups, big platforms, small businesses, elected officials and everyday people, all of them urging the FCC to protect real Net Neutrality.”

Our colleagues down the hall at Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, are also participating in and supporting the protest.

Over 1 million individuals and organizations filed comments in the first comment period, which ended on July 15. While some were on the rude side, the vast majority both objected to the idea of paid “fast lane” prioritization and also recommended the FCC consider Title II common carrier classification for broadband services.

Comcast, of course, is happy to object to the movement, just as they were happy to embrace the idea of fast lanes when the FCC proposed it.

Even as the reply comment period winds down — the deadline for submitting comments is this Monday, September 15 — the conversation on net neutrality is building up. On Tuesday, September 16, the FCC will be hosting a policy roundtable meeting discussing policy approaches to open internet regulation, and on Wednesday, September 17, Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on net neutrality.

If you’d like to add your two cents, you can jump in at Battle For The Net. Or if you don’t like form letters, check out our guides on how to leave a comment with the FCC and how to contact your Senators and Representatives.

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Sony’s Online Pay-TV Service To Launch With Channels You Might Actually Want To Watch

(Plankton 4:20)

After what seemed like an eternity of news leaks, rumors, and promises of an online-only pay-TV service from Sony, the company has finally announced that it will indeed be launching that cloud-based service, and that it will start with a slate of channels including some that humans actually watch.

There is still no date yet for the launch of the Sony service, but Viacom confirmed this morning that it has reached a deal with the electronics and entertainment mega-company to include a slate of at least 22 of its channels on the new over-the-top TV offering.

That means the Sony service will include Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, BET, Vh1, CMT, and those channels’ assorted spinoffs.

And just like regular cable customers, subscribers to the Sony service will be able to log into the websites and apps for these stations to access their TV Everywhere streams.

This is a huge deal for Sony and for the future of over-the-top pay-TV, as the perceived biggest barrier to the success of these services has been content companies’ reluctance to anger the big players in pay-TV like Comcast and DirecTV.

Dish, which also plans to launch an online-only pay-TV service, has reached some sort of deal with Disney, but the specifics about which Disney-owned channels, including the many ESPNs, are involved in that arrangement are still unknown.

And while Disney does hold that prized possession of ESPN, one could argue that Viacom has the more valuable overall slate of channels to attract a large number of general interest cord-cutters.

Additionally, the Sony/Viacom deal shows that a company that is not already involved in the pay-TV business can reach a streaming deal with a mammoth content provider.

Now if Sony would just tell us when this sucker will launch, and how much it will cost, we could finally get around to evaluating its worth.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Man Decides Ferrari Is So Nice, He Allegedly Steals It Twice

Not the car in question. But a Ferrari, nonetheless. (digitized chaos)

It must be pretty cool to own a luxury sports car, enough so that one man allegedly couldn’t give up the chase to have one in his possession. Police say a California man didn’t just swipe a Ferrari once, but twice, after abandoning it the first time, only to seek it out later at the impound lot.

Law enforcement in Studio City say a 39-year-old man was arrested for driving a stolen Ferrari, reports CBS Los Angeles, one that he simply couldn’t give up, it seems.

Police first noticed the suspect after he fled from a DUI checkpoint late last month, while tooling around in a 2014 Ferrari 458 Spyder. Cops realized it was reported stolen, and recovered it later after finding it abandoned in an empty lot nearby. All alone.

But its former suitor came back, cops said, the next day at 3 a.m. when he showed up at the impound lot where the car was sleeping. Er, being stored.

He allegedly broke into the lot and is accused of swiping the car for a second time, successfully making off with it for the next few days.

Cops found him driving around in the sports car a few days later, and arrested him on charges of car theft, receiving stolen property, burglary and other warrants.

Police: Car Thief Stole Ferrari Twice, Once From Impound Lot [CBS Los Angeles]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Budweiser Wants You To Buy Beer For Your Buds Without Leaving Your Couch

(metavariable)

Did you see recent projects from Coke, Pepsi, and Starbucks that let users beam beverages at each other through various social media outlets and say, “that seems cool, but I would rather send my friends alcohol”? Great news for you…well, if you live in Denver or Chicago, and your friends like Budweiser.

The company plans to roll the program out nationally, so there’s that. How does it work? If you remember Facebook gifts, where you could pay real money to display cute icons on your friends’ profiles, it’s kind of like that. Except in the real world. Instead of just an icon, recipients can print out (or flash on their mobile phone) vouchers that they can take to a bar or restaurant and redeem for real, non-virtual beer. With a genuine piece of government-issued ID that says they’re over 21, of course.

Businessweek reports that Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle are probably next to get beer-beaming capabilities, and a nationwide rollout is supposed to come in 2015.

Budweiser Wants You to Buy a Facebook Friend a Real Beer [Bloomberg Businessweek]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Publix Recalls Jalapeño Bagels Because Breakfast Shouldn’t Include Eating Glass Or Stones

(nvaine)

If you live in the southern United States and love yourself a spicy breakfast bagel you might want to reconsider your morning routine. Publix grocery store is recalling its store-brand jalapeño bagels, because, you know, bagels shouldn’t come with shards of glass or small stones.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, affected bagels were distributed to Publix stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

The bagels are sold in self-service bins and artisan cases in the grocery stores’ bakery department. It was unclear just how many bagels were suspected of having glass or stones in them.

Officials with Publix say they learned of the potentially hazardous bagels through a supplier.

“As part of our commitment to food safety, potentially impacted product has been removed from all affected bakery departments,” Maria Brous, Publix media and community relations director for Publix, said in a statement.

So far there have been no reports of injury or illness as a result of the recall. Consumers who purchased the bagels are urged to return them to their local store for a full refund.

Recall alert: Publix-brand jalapeno bagels may have glass or stones inside [Orlando Sentinel]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

McDonald’s Tries Again To Trademark “McBrunch”

Here’s a Mc10:35 — the Frankenstein’s monster created by combining a McDouble and an Egg McMuffin. (photo: acadiel)

Given McDonald’s love of selling breakfast, and its even deeper affection for trademarking anything even vaguely food-related starting with “Mc,” it’s surprising to learn that the company is just now getting around to trying to stake its claim on the phrase, “McBrunch.” But the real question is: Does this mean a real brunch menu is on the way from McDonald’s?

According to BurgerBusiness.com, the Golden Arches filed the trademark application for McBrunch back in July.

So does this mean that McMuffins, biscuit sandwiches, hash browns and other breakfast foods will soon be available later into the day? Or maybe it’s planning new, more upscale brunch items?

The company is playing coy, telling BurgerBusiness that “We routinely file intent to use trademark applications as a regular course of business. We can’t share details at this time as to how the trademarks may or may not be used.”

McDonald’s did apply to trademark McBrunch back in 2001, but later abandoned that application and has never publicly used the term on its national menu.

The company has been tinkering with the idea of serving its popular breakfast menu either later into the day or on late-night menus.

And of course there have been fan-made brunch possibilities like the hybrid burger/McMuffin monster dubbed the Mc10:35.

BurgerBusiness points to recent regional tests of new items like breakfast pastries and mini bundt cakes as possible indicators that a brunch menu could be in the offing.

This may not go over well with McDonald’s franchisees, who have complained in recent years about being forced to offer new menu items that don’t always sell well (we’re looking at you, Mighty Wings). But with Taco Bell recently making a splash in the breakfast business, the chain might need to try something new to keep customers interested.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

We Are Completely Unsurprised That Cats Are More Popular With American Families Than Stocks

(Matt-san)

On the one hand, you’ve got a furry feline companion, soft and purring sometimes, playful and worthy of hours on end of cell phone footage in case Mr. Whiskerpants does something that could go viral. On the other, you’ve got individual stocks. Of course more American families own cats than stocks. Of course.

Maybe it has something to do with how sweet little paws can just rest against your cheek, but we as a country aren’t as in to having individual stocks for companies like Apple and Microsoft, reports CNNMoney.

Statistics coming from the Federal Reserve says that 13.8% of families in the United States have any individual stocks as of 2013, an almost 18% dip from 2007.

Compare that to the 30% of American households that own at least one cat, says the American Veterinary Medical Association.

“After experiencing severe losses in 2007 and 2008, investors with smaller portfolios have become more cautious,” an executive with E*Trade Financial told CNNMoney.

Both stocks and cats can be unpredictable, but at least the cat might deign to curl up on your lap once in a while. We all take risks — is Mr. Whiskers going to claw my face off if I don’t feed him as soon as my eyes open in the morning? — it’s just that pets are a lot cuter than facing potential stock market disappointments. The solution? Stock in cats, clearly.

More US families own cats than stocks [CNNMoney]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Burger King Employee Beats Up Former Co-Worker Who Attempted To Rob Restaurant

(Mike Mozart)

In a move that would probably get him fired if he worked at Walmart, a Burger King employee in Ohio fought off a knife-wielding wannabe robber, who happened to have previously worked at that restaurant (and whose special lady friend still works there).

NorthCoastNow.com has the story of the failed robbery attempt yesterday at a BK in Elyria, OH.

The manager says one of her co-workers had gone outside to take out the trash, but when he came back into the store, he was holding his hands in the air, followed by another man wielding a knife.

The man with the knife had been previously employed at this BK, and the manager says one of her other employees is his significant other (it’s unclear whether it’s his wife or girlfriend).

While the manager tried to talk to the former employee, the worker being held at knifepoint grabbed a nearby broomstick and used it to knock the knife out of the would-be robber’s hand. The worker then grabbed his former colleague and took him outside, where they fought until police arrived.

While the currently employed BK worker was uninjured, the same couldn’t be said for the man who pulled a knife on him. He had to receive treatment at the hospital before being hauled off to jail.

Many companies have policies against employees intervening in robbery attempts, and we’ve covered numerous stories of people who have been fired for tackling thieves or thwarting robbery attempts. Let’s hope this man’s story doesn’t also end that way.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Things Are Getting Hostile In The Dollar Wars: Dollar General Takes Family Dollar Bid To Shareholders

(Ryan)

You’d think after two rejections and the proverbial cold shoulder Dollar General would pick up its dignity and go back to hawking dollar times. But no, the dollar store giant just won’t give up on its dream of making dollar love with Family Dollar; this time its taking the hostile route and bringing its thick wallet directly to the smaller store’s shareholders.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Tennessee-based Dollar General brought the same $9.1 billion offer to shareholders that Family Dollar executives dismissed last week.

By taking the offer to shareholders, Dollar General has a good chance of winning the dollar store wars unless Dollar Tree, which is the chosen suitor of Family Dollar, ups its bid.

The sordid dollar store love triangle began back in July when Dollar Tree made an $8.5 billion bid for North Carolina-based Family Dollar. Not one to feel left out, Dollar General proceeded to provide an unsolicited bid of $8.95 billion for the smaller chain.

But Family Dollar wasn’t feeling the love and rejected the offer citing “significant antitrust issues” because the two chains have similar business models. Both Dollar General and Family Dollar sell items at different dollar price points, catering to low-income shoppers, while Dollar Tree caters to more middle-income shoppers and sells most items at $1.

Dollar General came back with a second bid of $9.1 billion and in an attempt to ease Family Dollars’ anti-trust review fears it proposed closing 1,500 of the potentially combined companies 20,000 stores.

Yet, that still wasn’t enough and Family Dollar rejected the bid, choosing instead to stay with its true love, Dollar Tree.

Officials with Dollar General say taking its quest to shareholders will put the company’s values to the test.

“We now can begin the antitrust review process and will have an opportunity to present our position directly to the FTC,” Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling says in a news release. “As we previously have stated, we are confident in the results of our antitrust analysis, and we look forward to a constructive dialogue with the Federal Trade Commission.”

Dollar General Takes Family Dollar Offer to Shareholders [Bloomberg]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist