Two years after hosting a costly FIFA World Cup, Brazil will once again be on the world sporting stage next summer at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. But now, with the Brazilian economy facing a deepening crisis, the government has an idea for some help from a pillar of the "sharing economy": an Airbnb tax.

José Gayoso, an official at Embratur, Brazil's state-owned tourist board, vowed that it will be "a fair tax that will not be passed on to consumers or ruin the business," Brazilian national daily O Globo reports.

Gayoso says the San Francisco-based start-up is actually open to the idea, as it's looking to reinforce its presence in Brazil ahead of the much-awaited Summer Games. In fact, O Globo explains that Airbnb has already officially agreed to provide 20,000 rooms to host tourists during the Olympics.

The bill is still in its early stages, and lawmakers still need to decide what level of taxation they'll impose and whether the tax will be collected by the federal government or instead by local authorities as is done in San Francisco, Washington, Paris and Amsterdam.


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