Why not offer an annotated bill that explains what each surcharge and tax is used for, especially th

You might recall the opening washington dc hotel reservations salvo two years ago, when then-Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) introduced the End Discriminatory State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act of 2009. The law, backed by car rental companies, washington dc hotel reservations would have limited the excise taxes that a municipality could levy on the agencies washington dc hotel reservations vehicles. Cities fought the measure, saying that it would limit their ability to raise money and that it represented an unwanted federal intrusion.
Drew Tipton does. His 18-hour Avis rental at Chicago O Hare cost $61. Then Avis added an 11 percent concession recovery, an $8-per-day mileage surcharge, washington dc hotel reservations an $8-a-day customer facility charge, a license fee of $1.25 per day and a 20 percent tax, and ka-ching! suddenly his rental fee had ballooned, to $97.
I remember my last rental, washington dc hotel reservations two weeks from Thrifty in San Francisco last month. The base rate was $693, and I paid $300 for optional insurance. But once the company was done with me, I d paid a total of $1,276, including washington dc hotel reservations a $24 tourism surcharge, an airport concession recovery fee of $114 and $85 in taxes.
Yes, the extras are out of control. It would take me another column just to explain washington dc hotel reservations them all and to draw the fine line between fees, sales taxes and excise taxes. Suffice it to say that the proposed bill would cap many of the taxes, washington dc hotel reservations preventing local governments from asking car rental customers to pay what the bill s supporters say is more than their fair share. The battle is only intensifying as states fight to cover budget shortfalls and look to expand tax bases, says Robert washington dc hotel reservations Barton, president of the American Car Rental Association, a trade organization.
Car rental companies are making a new push to get Congress to pass the bill early this year. In their view, discriminatory taxes on rentals have gone from bad to worse since the bill was introduced. That includes a proposal by Charleston, S.C., to tax cars in an effort to lure Southwest Airlines to its airport (an offer the airline turned down) and a proposed new rental tax in Tucson to cover the costs of luring a baseball franchise to the area for spring training.
Until recently, the auto rental industry has been reactive in fighting these excise taxes, explains Chris Brown, executive editor of Auto Rental News, a trade publication. But this bill serves notice on a national level that the auto rental industry is no longer a politically expedient target washington dc hotel reservations to raise money for projects that have nothing to do with car rental, such as financing new sports stadiums.
That s not how cities see it. Lars Etzkorn, a program washington dc hotel reservations director at the National League of Cities, says local taxes on rental cars pay for a variety of services that visitors use, including roads, convention centers and libraries. He also dismisses arguments that car rental excise taxes despite being touted as tourist taxes to local voters washington dc hotel reservations are discriminatory, noting that most car hires are local rentals, which means that the customers live in the community and benefit from all services, including sports stadiums.
Although in principle the National League of Cities supports equitable, fair and transparent taxation, it opposes the law. The decisions about taxation should be made in the community, says Etzkorn, not in Washington.
Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League, told a congressional hearing last year that drivers don t object to paying taxes that fund hospitals, roads or libraries. But when rental car customers are asked to pay for stadiums or arts centers, and the taxes imposed seem to have no limit, it s time to say enough is enough, she said.
Sandy Soule, who manages a travel Web site based in Austin, believes that some of the money collected from car renters goes to the wrong place. It wouldn t be so bad if it went to improve the airports, roads or travel infrastructure, she says. But when an excise tax is used to fund a stadium or a convention center or goes into a black hole of city or state coffers, she feels frustrated.
Avoiding high taxes on rental cars is as easy as avoiding renting a car in places such as San Francisco, Chicago and Boston which is to say, practically impossible. If you re traveling to those cities, you re going to get slammed by taxes.
But is a new law the answer? In its current form, the proposed bill wouldn t roll back any of these disputed taxes, only prevent municipalities from adding new ones. As far as drivers are concerned, that s far from an ideal solution.
If car rental companies want their customers support in passing this law, they have to start by making us aware of the problem. Right now, most of us gloss over our final bill, going past such gibberish line items as TRNSFCFEE and APCONRGFEE seriously, I saw those on my last bill and straight washington dc hotel reservations to the grand total.
Why not offer an annotated washington dc hotel reservations bill that explains what each surcharge and tax is used for, especially the controversial excise taxes? washington dc hotel reservations Why not highlight and explain the fees on your bill and offer a subtotal, minus the taxes?
Few years ago my Son and I did a Road trip from SanFran to San Diego. Since we did two day in SanFran and did not need the car then, I look at the rental prices Including all the taxes and addons. Found that If I went back to SFO go get the car it would cost hundreds more. Wound up getting the car in Walnut Creek, Right off the BART line. Got off the BART and I thought I was in the car rental area of a airport. Everyone was there right accross from the station. The Hertz guy said All the locals (Entire SFO Metro area) get there cars here. We dont have all the add on taxes.
The taxes, fees and surcharges kill the tourism industries in the long run. Before year 2000, I used to travel washington dc hotel reservations in US at least once a month, every-time with a car-rent (60 days a year of car-rent), the taxes and fees scarcely higher than 15% (excepting NYC). Now I gave up the car-rent since 2005 and use the Taxi or Airport Shuttle. And my destinations are more to Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, etc ) where I can have a car with a driver for around 50$USD for a day (all taxes included), and I limit to 2 trip to US a year. Spend 2 weeks in California cost me more than 4 weeks in Thailand, all airfare and all taxes included. Don t kill the Golden Goose.
Why not offer an annotated bill that explains what each surcharge and tax is used for, especially the controversial excise taxes? Why not highlight and explain the fees on your bill and offer a subtotal, minus the taxes?
Excellent idea. And also to explain which fees are collected by the rental car agency for it s own use (example.. it is my understanding that an airport concession recovery fee is like rent that is charged by the airport authority washington dc hotel reservations to the car rental company. The rental car company collects this fee and remits it to the airport.) and which fees are mandated by city/state governments as an excise tax used to fund a stadium or a convention center.
Money is fungible, meaning that tax money designated for roads, schools, etc. is the same as tax money for sports washington dc hotel reservations stadiums, tourism promotion, and airport maintenance when it is spent. The bucks don t go into separate accounts. They don t have different lables attached to each.
If there is an increase in tax revenues from one source, there is less burden on the overall budget (thus, less coming out of the general fund for that purpose). You can be assured that the city s budget department can demonstrate its compliance washington dc hotel reservations with the letter washington dc hotel reservations of the law that associated with any said tax.
I said it before and I ll say it again while I don t particularly like using car rental (or hotel) taxes to fund boondoggles like sports stadiums or convention centers, I vehemently oppose the idea of federal interference in local fiscal policy matters. Car rental taxes and fees are (most of the time) approved by local voters. Nothing is stopping the car rental companies from lobbying at the local level to defeat these ballot measures. And if you open the door here, I can all but guarantee a littany of other unwanted consequences. You ve now opened up federal veto power to ANY kind of municipal tax vote if either a special interest or the federales in general washington dc hotel reservations don t like it. I can already see the oil companies asking Congress to ban state gas tax increases because it s unfair to interstate travelers since they don t have the right to vote on them.
And despite washington dc hotel reservations claims to the contrary, municipalities are ultimately washington dc hotel reservations accountable for the consequences of these taxes. washington dc hotel reservations Raise them too high, and business starts disappearing to lower tax locations. There s no reason for conventions to come to Dallas if the taxes are materially washington dc hotel reservations lower in Houston or Austin, for example. And then, the pols that peddled the snake oil are unaccountable to the voters.
So let me see if I have this straight: Rental car companies don t want additional taxes to be passed on to their customers. But they have no problem tacking on $7 a day for an airport concession fee and $1.25 a day for a license fee , costs that should be included in the rental rate.
I ll be honest: I d rather washington dc hotel reservations pay an extra $5 a day knowing it ll help the local community than $5 a day that should have been included in my base rental washington dc hotel reservations rate. Car rental companies are going the way of the airlines. Start with fair pricing, guys, and maybe I ll support the legislation you re backing.
We continue to see stories of the rental companies themselves creating washington dc hotel reservations their own garbage fees to tack on, among worse crimes such as outright fraud against their customers, and they think we should be on their side?
Local politicians know well that they stand a far better chance of getting approval to tax hapless visitors than to tax locals. Hotel taxes, the battery of facility taxes and myriad others come under the basic definition of taxation without representation. It sounds pious and righteous to say that these outrages should be contested on the local level and it s balderdash. A proper taxpayer revolt needs to be fought at the level where it will do the most good. In this case, that