Legislatures in two states earlier this month did not pass proposals that would have increased the amount of daily fees on rental cars, although buyers and industry analysts warn that the implementation of such fees is spreading.
Colorado's proposal would have added a $6 per-day tax on rental customers, and Florida's proposal would have added a $2 daily fee at international airports. Florida's then-governor Jeb Bush vetoed a similar surcharge two years ago
(BTNonline, July 17, 2006)."With all these states, nothing is totally defeated," said Kevin Maguire, president and CEO of the National Business Travel Association, which has lobbied against car taxes. "We're finding that it's dead for a period of time and then it's brought back to life."
The number of car rental taxes has increased rapidly over the years and more than 110 taxes have been enacted by U.S. state and local governments, said Neil Abrams, president of Purchase, N.Y.-based car rental consultancy Abrams Consulting Group.
"It's taken on almost epidemic proportions," he said. "It's driving up the price of a rental transaction and that's never good."
Rose Stratford, senior vice president of industry relations and GDS for BCD Travel, added, "It can range anywhere from as low as 20 percent to 35 percent of what you're paying is taxes."
The Colorado fees would have been used for road projects and the Florida fee was targeted for a commuter rail project, Maguire said.
"You're taxing rental customers that can't use the facilities that their taxes are funding," Abrams said.
NBTA supports a bill introduced last year in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) that would prohibit taxation of rental cars for unrelated issues, Maguire said.