A call for the end of discriminatory taxes on rental vehicles has been supported by a body looking after the interests of car manufacturers in the US. The American Automotive Policy Council has announced that it fully supports a cessation of additional charges levied by state governments against customers of car rental firms.

The AAPC is a Washington DC based association looking after the interests of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

Support has been given by the AAPC to a bill entitled ‘The End Discriminatory State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act’, which has been presented to the House Judiciary subcommittee this week. H.R. 4175, if passed, would mean that state governments would be prohibited from adding any discriminatory charges onto the prices of rental vehicles.

American Automotive Policy Council president, Stephen Collins, said that the additional taxes added to the cost of car hire were in place because of the misconception that those who rent vehicles are mostly tourists who have extra money to burn. He added that statistics proved over half of those who make use of car rental services do so from neighbourhood locations, not airports.

He went on to point out that those who are collecting the keys for a rental vehicle are likely to be in the medium to low income bracket. Mr Collins also said that the so called luxury tax was damaging US jobs because it was misdirected and that every level of earner was being treated unfairly by a system of taxation which did not follow the normal principles.