Rental Car Excise Tax Removed from Arizona Sports Facilities Funding Bill
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA), the American Car Rental Association (ACRA), and the Arizona Business Travel Association (AZBTA) were pleased to learn a proposed provision that would establish a new rental car tax to fund training facility upgrades in Mesa, AZ, for the Chicago Cubs was removed before the legislation was passed in the Arizona House of Representatives.
Michael W. McCormick, NBTA Executive Director & COO, said, “This represents another significant milestone in the fight for fair and appropriate taxation on travel. We spoke out last month against this proposed tax that would have burdened business travelers and local businesses, and we’re happy to see our concerns were heard. This tax would establish Mesa as one of the highest taxed areas in the country, and in today’s challenging economy, companies are likely to rethink travel plans to high-tax areas. Arizona House representatives can congratulate themselves for eliminating a tax that would have deterred travel to their state, and we urge the Senate to do the same.”
In seeking funds to refit a baseball stadium for a professional sports team, the state legislature had proposed to add $1 to car rental charges in Maricopa Country. However, the measure passed in the Arizona House last week would now impose a surcharge on spring training tickets, and the rental car tax provision was dropped.
Robert M. Barton, President of the American Car Rental Association, said, “We are pleased that members of the Arizona House of Representatives have realized the burden they could have imposed on not only out-of-state travelers, but also local businesses and tax payers. The car rental industry should not be the source of funding for projects that have no direct relationship to the rental industry.”
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and corporate meetings organization. NBTA and its regional affiliates – NBTA Australia/New Zealand, the Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV), NBTA Canada, NBTA Europe, NBTA Mexico, and NBTA USA – serve a network of more than 17,000 business travel professionals around the globe with industry-leading events, networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy. NBTA members, numbering more than 5,000 in 30 nations, are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers. They collectively manage and direct more than US$340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually on behalf of more than 13 million business travelers within their organizations. For more information, visit www.nbta.org.
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
- NBTA Europe Announces Amsterdam Site For 2011 European Conference
- NBTA Commends American Airlines and Sabre For Agreeing To Suspend Litigation
- Looming Airfare Distribution Crisis to Be Reviewed and Debated by Travel Industry Leaders at the NBTA Masters Program, February 7th - 8th
- NBTA Finds That Business Travel – A Key Economic Indicator – Will Continue to Improve in 2011
- Who Foots The Bill For Recent Actions In the Business Travel Marketplace? The Business Travel Buyer
- DOJ Clarifies March 15, 2012 Mandatory Pool Lift Requirement! (Uh-oh!) - By Jim Butler, Author of Www.HotelLawBlog.com
- Nobody Asked Me, But... No. 85 - By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC
- Wyndham Worldwide Named Among Top 50 Companies for Executive Women
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Downtown Re-Opens
- Hotels Reach out to Niche Markets - USATODAY
