July 15, 2006
Columbus Dispatch -- A taxing situation
Unfortunately, taxes on travelers are increasing all the time, said Andrew Chamberlain, a staff economist at the Tax Foundation, a tax-policy research organization in Washington.
Chamberlain is researching a paper on soaring state and local rental-car excise taxes.
Travel taxes, such as those on rental cars, are "viewed as falling on visitors who can’t vote against them. And the rental-car industry is fragmented and not very powerful politically," he said.
Traditional taxes, such as property or sales taxes, are getting harder to raise, he said.
"So lawmakers are doing what anyone would do, following the path of least resistance."
Many locations are imposing rentalcar surcharges to pay for local projects such as stadiums and arenas that local taxpayers are unwilling to fund themselves, Chamberlain said.
"Politicians like to export taxes when they can. Travel taxes tend to do that. It’s bad economics but good politics."
