Carsharing customers in Florida are now paying a $1 per-use tax versus the previous $2 surcharge. According to Enterprise Holdings, it supports this tax cut because it helps draw attention to unfair excise taxes.
by Staff
February 19, 2015
Enterprise CarShare is one carsharing company that supports Florida cutting its carsharing tax in half. Photo via Wikimedia.
2 min to read
Enterprise CarShare is one carsharing company that supports Florida cutting its carsharing tax in half. Photo via Wikimedia.
Under Florida’s new legislation, effective Jan. 1, all Florida carsharing customers are being charged a $1 per-use surcharge versus the previous $2 surcharge.
“We have supported this tax cut all along because it’s a step in the right direction,” said Ryan Johnson, vice president of Enterprise CarShare, Enterprise Rideshare and Zimride by Enterprise. “It also helps draw attention to unfair taxes that single out local as well as out-of-town car rental customers. This is a small victory for consumers, but an important one. In Florida and elsewhere, we’ll continue to advocate for our customers on this issue, whether they rent for an hour, a day, a week or longer.”
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Enterprise Holdings — owner and operator of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands — opposes discriminatory excise taxes that target car rental and carsharing customers. However, the company said in a statement that it believes this pro-rated tax is both equitable and fair since most carsharing transactions cover less than 24 hours at a time.
Enterprise supports the Curb Auto Rental Taxes (CART) Coalition, which opposes excise taxes that unfairly target car-rental and carsharing customers to fund unrelated programs and projects. CART includes policy organizations and labor and consumer advocate groups, such as the American Society of Travel Agents, Americans for Tax Reform and National Consumers League.
“We certainly don’t expect local carsharing services to be taxed differently than local car rental, but we do we expect such transportation services to be taxed fairly,” said Johnson. “Florida’s approach to taxing carsharing customers on a per-use basis rather than per-day is a great example of common-sense public policy. We hope this new tax application sets a standard elsewhere in order to reduce unfair tax burdens on our hourly car rental customers.”
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