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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Guv’s rental car tax bill dies

Here's a news item from AP: "Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's plan to add a 6 percent tax on rental cars died Wednesday, after the industry argued new costs would hurt agencies already being buffeted by the worst economy in decades. The House Transportation Committee ditched the plan to raise $2 million more to fix roads on an 11-3 vote, after listening to rental car outfits tell them roads shouldn't be fixed on their backs. Rhett Fornoff, who runs Enterprise rental agencies in Idaho and Utah, told the panel "The time for our industry to be picked on is not now." It's the second time one of Otter's proposals — part of a package to boost highway revenue by $174 million annually by 2014 — has been rebuffed by the House panel. It also was skeptical of a plan to raise fees on personalized and specialized license plates. Jason Kreizenbeck, Otter's chief of staff, says that proposal is still being reworked, while the proposal to tax rental cars won't re-emerge."



Eye On Boise

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