According to an article written by Sarah Nassuer in the WSJ titled "If your Zipcar is costing more, the Tax man may be to blame" in the Thursday June 19th, 2008 edition the tax man is coming after Car sharing organization full force.
It seems there are a number of taxes and fees that car rental companies pay, before some of the new laws were passed against car sharing did not have to pay. Some of these "taxes" come in the form of:
$2 per day even if the car is rented for "ANY part of the day" (in Allegheny county)
5% rental car taxes on car rentals in NY but it seems car sharing companies have been quietly paying it. It translates to .50 cents per hour on average.
$5 per rental "Domestic Security Fee" in New Jersey
2% state rental car tax + a $2 per rental state tax and the city's 2% per rental car tax all this from Philadelphia!
"Zipcar is frustrated by car-rental agencies' objections to their exemption efforts" as reported by Sarah N.
What does this mean for car-sharing's future? Nothing in the long run as far as I am concerned. Car-rental companies did not take the lead 10 years ago when they had the resources and logistics to change the transportation landscape. Now that Mr. Griffiths Zipcar has posted $100,000.00 in revenue! Now car-rental companies want to object and stonewall?
The future of car-sharing and Vespa-sharing is very bright. Brighter even for Vespa-sharing since we are not a traditional scooter rental service (membership based vs off the street retail locations). Don't get me wrong I know the tax man will come knocking sooner or later. Our fingers are crossed that its later, much later!
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