Under a Mass. Senate bill, Airbnb and other online vacation sites would be subject to the same taxes as hotels, generating up to $20 million annually in a 5.7 percent hotel excise tax on short-term stays in private residences. “People love it, and the Airbnb organizations want the tax to be applied, the hotels and motels say it’s not fair if you don’t apply it, and they would like it done,” Rosenberg said.

The money would pay for an increase in the earned income tax credit, which Governor Baker promised to double in his election campaign. “We were able to get half of that done last year,” Rosenberg said. ‘“This would take us not quite to double, but a little bit more.”

The state’s portion of the tax revenue will be applied to earned income tax credit. According to a report from the Mass. Budget and Policy Center, Typically, 415,000-430,000 filers claim the credit each year, which cost the state roughly $134 million in 2015. “[Those families] get up, go to work every day, but don’t make a lot of money,” Rosenberg said.

According to Rosenberg, Airbnb is asking to be taxed. “They want to create legitimacy for the enterprise,” he said. “They want people to realize that these are serious people who are renting quality product, and they want to be taken seriously, and it’s not fly-by-night.”

ON WHAT OUR ‘NO-TAX GOVERNOR,’ CHARLIE BAKER, THINKS:

Jim Braude: Baker is agreeing to the taxing of Airbnb?

Rosenberg: He has not yet.

Braude: So he may veto this whole thing?

Rosenberg: We hope he won’t.

Braude: Have you spoken to him about it?

Rosenberg: I mentioned it to him.

Braude: What did he say?

Rosenberg: ‘Interesting.’

Braude: Is that what he said?

Rosenberg: Yeah, he said, ‘that’s interesting.’

ON GIVING UP THE MASS. SALES TAX HOLIDAY:

Massachusetts is giving up the annual sales tax holiday this year, for the first time since 2009. According to Senate President Stan Rosenberg, the summer weekend away from the 6.25 percent tax —beloved by consumers and retailers— costs the state $25—$26 million every year. “We started looking at the balance sheet, and we saw hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue disappearing,” Rosenberg said in an interview with Boston Public Radio Tuesday. “We not only did that once but twice in about a three-week period, we knew we had a problem here.”

TO HEAR MORE FROM SENATE PRESIDENT STAN ROSENBERG’S INTERVIEW WITH BOSTON PUBLIC RADIO, CLICK ON THE AUDIO LINK ABOVE.