Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Amazing: Republicans touting a tax - er, fee

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 29, 2006

With a week left in the 2006 legislative session, Republicans are pushing a proposed tax increase, and frustrated business lobbyists can't stop it.

Something's wrong with the Tallahassee script. Democrats are supposed to be the ones pushing taxes. Not Republicans.

The role reversal neatly captures the conflict in Florida between the rhetoric of no new taxes and the reality of unmet needs - in this case, gridlock caused by too much growth and too little money.

The proposal is a $2-a-day tax on rental cars in Florida, subject to the approval of voters in each county. The money would be used for roads and other local transportation needs.

Supporters of the tax argue that the state spends too little money for transportation, and that a local option rental car tax (on top of an existing $2 tax) would help.

They also argue that tourists, who clog Florida's freeways in their rented SUVs, should help pay for the congestion they cause.

The momentum for the new tax comes from chambers of commerce and regional transportation boards, mainly in gridlocked Greater Orlando.

Its Tallahassee champions include some Republicans who have eagerly signed a no-new-taxes pledge at Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. The pledge says the undersigned "will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."

Supporters variously refer to the proposed tax as a "surcharge," "user fee" or "tool" to empower counties to control traffic.

They include House Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, who sees no conflict between signing the pledge and promoting a rental car tax. "I don't believe that empowering the people who sent me here is breaking that pledge," he said.

Opponents include rental car companies, travel agents, AAA Auto Club South and Norquist's group, who see an inconsistency.

"We were very surprised that a person who signed the tax pledge would sponsor such a bill. And disappointed," said Rick Watson, who lobbies for Americans for Tax Reform. "It's a sad day when a state awash in billions of new dollars is looking at increasing taxes."

Webster casts the tax as an issue of personal responsibility. A half-million rental cars are on the roads in Central Florida at any time, he says, but they are not captured by any source of transportation funding.

What's worse, Webster says, road construction taxes paid by people in Orlando go into a pot of money in Tallahassee and end up elsewhere. "It's like the Boston Tea Party," Webster says. "It's taxation without representation."

Gov. Jeb Bush used identical language six years ago when he blocked a proposal to tax cruise ship passengers to build a new stadium for the Florida Marlins. In an op-ed article in the Miami Herald, Bush said it was wrong "to put an additional tax on one industry and people who make South Florida their vacation destination."

As for the rental car tax, Bush sounds skeptical, but he's keeping an open mind. "I like the sponsors," he said. "I've got a little bit of a problem with the concept."

The proponents have added an exemption from the $2 tax for people who rent a vehicle to replace their own cars when they are damaged or being repaired. But opponents aren't appeased.

They say if the tax were adopted by Florida counties, our state's rental car taxes would jump to third-highest in the country, up from 37th place. But stopping it now is an uphill battle because the optional tax is now attached to the annual must-pass transportation bill, which contains something for everybody with an interest in the issue.

The bill's sponsor? Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City. He, too, signed that no-new-taxes pledge, but says this is different because voters will have the last word.

"It's up to the people," Glorioso said.

Not exactly, says Van Poole, a former legislator and Republican Party chairman whose lobbying firm represents the rental car industry.

"You can slice it, dice it, cut it, it still comes out as nothing but a tax," Poole says.

In last week's column about Gov. Jeb Bush's response to two protests, I said Bush waited 24 hours before he met with two lawmakers who staged a sit-in at his office in 2000. He met with them the same day.

Steve Bousquet is at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified April 29, 2006, 01:17:17]