A pair of bills have been introduced in the current Texas legislative session that would limit the regulations that local governments can impose on short-term rentals (STRs). A coalition of organizations involved in STR support the bills, but those organizations are short-sighted.
Rather than oppose any controls and regulations on their economic freedom, these organizations support regulations, but oppose those that go “too far.” Jeff Means, chairman of Texans for Property and Rental Rights (TPRR), recently said:
The biggest fear we have is people going underground. They’re still going to do it. Now they’re going to be breaking the law, and the state won’t realize the hotel tax off that.
Rather than defend their freedom to use their property as they choose, TPRR focuses on how much money government can collect in coercive taxes. They are attempting to defend their freedom, not on the basis of their moral rights, but on the basis what it will do for others.
In doing so, they concede the principle that government can and should regulate them. They don’t have a problem with controls and limits on their activities, they just want those controls and limits to be “reasonable.” They don’t have a problem with their property rights being violated, as long as those violations don’t go “too far.” (See our paper “A History of Compromise” for an examination of how this will ultimately end up.)
This is a complete surrender on the fundamental issue. The controls and limits might be relaxed today, but when some noisy group demands more controls and limits tomorrow, they will be morally powerless. They will have conceded the moral principles involved.
Certainly, the State should intervene and prohibit local governments from violating property rights. But when the victims accept short-term victories, someday they will discover that their compromises were short-sighted.