Magazine for the professional car and truck rental industry.
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Sports Coalition Speaks Out Against Rental Car Taxes At the fi rst hearing on Feb. 1 for the "End Dis- criminatory State Taxes for Automobile Rent- ers Act of 2011," or H.R. 2469, the Sports Fan Coalition attended in support of the legislation, citing that team owners often "prey on fan loyalty in order to manipu- late massive public subsidies toward pri- vate coffers using tools such as car rental excise taxes," said Brian Fredrick, the Coali- tion's executive director.
At the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law hearing, Fredrick said that the taxes imposed at local levels on the rental industry have become a "glorifi ed real estate scam," citing projects in which citizens and tourists have been pay- ing fees and taxes for stadiums that still haven't been built.
Chicago Looks to Implement New Concession Fee at Airports
Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski proposed a city ordinance through the city's aviation committee that would amend the rental car concession fee at the city's two airports — O'Hare and Midway — by adding a total of an 11.1% increase to what renters currently pay at the two locations.
Ten percent of the increase — or the "concession fee" — would go to the com- panies to help mediate their expenses to stay at the airports, while the remaining 1.1% of the total 11.1% increase — or the "con- cession recovery fee" — would go to the city, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It is estimated that the 1.1% would generate roughly $1.2 million a year for the city that would go toward airport projects. These proposed concession fees would be in addition to facility fees that renters al- ready pay to help offset the costs of a con- solidated rental car facility (conrac). May- or Rahm Emanuel appointed Transystems Corp. back in September to design and build the fi ve-story facility. At present, there are conrac fees of $8 at the O'Hare airport and $3.75 at Midway that were both passed by the city council in 2010.
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As well, team owners often "play cities off one an- other, threatening to uproot teams from their fan bases and move them to a new city in order to get the public to approve hundreds of millions of dollars for new stadiums," Fredrick said. "Once the sta- diums are built, owners raise ticket pric- es and black out the games if fans don't buy tickets."
Also at the hearing in support of H.R. 2469 included the Global Business Travel As- sociation and the National Consumers League. There to present and speak against the legislation was a spokesperson on behalf of the National Association of Cit- ies, National Association of Counties, U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Government Finance Offi cers Association.
Sixt Rent A Car Launches Operations At Florida Airports
Continuing its worldwide expansion that the Munich-based auto rental company announced in December, Sixt Rent A Car has started fully-owned operations in the state of Florida, including Orlando Inter- national Airport (MCO).
Sixt customers can rent one-way rentals between Miami Internation- al Airport (MIA), Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and MCO. All branches are open 24/7, have shuttle services and offer the same features and services as any Sixt location. In addition, Sixt will open a branch at Palm Beach International Air- port (PBI). The new location is already bookable on and offl ine. The Sixt fl eet in Florida includes latest model vehicles from Chevro- let, Ford, Infi nity, Mustang, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Mini Cooper, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
As a partner of all major international airline frequent fl yer, hotel loyalty and rewards programs, Sixt credits miles/points for car rentals and its chauffeur services. Participating pro- grams include Unit- ed Mileage Plus, US Airways Divi- dend Miles, Delta SkyMiles, Lufthansa Miles & More, Air France Flying Blue, SMILES, Multiplus, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Star- points and others.
