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Two panels wince and okay tax proposal

Over several firms' protests, Senate and House committees advance a bill to allow counties to put a $2-a-day tax on car rentals.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published March 29, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - It's not every day that one of the Senate's most conservative Republicans gets accused of raising taxes.

Sen. Daniel Webster of Winter Garden heard the charge over his bill, which sailed through its first committee Tuesday, that would allow counties to tax rental cars $2 a day. The money would go toward local transportation projects.

The bill is a top priority of the Orlando area delegation, whose transportation gurus told lawmakers they lack a dedicated revenue source. Having a stream of tax money coming in would help capture federal dollars to address traffic and transportation problems exacerbated by tourism, they said.

But the bill has drawn the ire of the rental car industry and antitax groups that are accusing Republicans of raising taxes.

Representatives of Enterprise, Avis, Budget, Alamo and National rental car companies spoke against the bill, saying it would cut into their profits and hurt local residents who rent cars.

Webster countered that Orange County in his district needs a new way to tap into the money associated with heavy tourist traffic. He said the state's budget gets the benefit of the region's high tourist population through sales taxes, but the formula for returning some of that money to local governments doesn't take into account which regions contribute the most. In the meantime, he said, the volume of tourist traffic wears heavily on local roads and bridges.

"If we end taxation without representation by tweaking the (sales tax funding) formulas, and sending Orange County and Central Florida more of their money that they collect, then we wouldn't have to do this," Webster told the Community Affairs Committee, which passed the bill 5-1.

Republicans in a House tourism committee, where a similar rental car tax passed Tuesday, 6-2, tried to emphasize that they were merely giving counties the option of passing a tax, distancing themselves from the idea that they are raising taxes themselves.

"I view this as giving local people an option to increase taxes," said Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, "not that we are voting on increasing taxes."

But Rep. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, who runs the House tourism committee, called the bill "fraught with bitter land mines for all of us." She was one of two members who voted against the bill.

[Last modified March 29, 2006, 01:23:20]