The increasing amount of tax being levied against car hire and vehicle leasing in the U.S. is beginning to feel a backlash from a public who see the charges as unfair. According to the Coalition Against Discriminatory Car Rental Excise Taxes the figure for separate taxes on car rentals across most of the United States has now hit 114, a huge rise from the 14 in existence in 1990.

One company president who has had to rent a car for business travel for seventy-five days so far this year points out that in some cities up to twenty percent of the rental bill is tax. For him, the amount of tax added to the car rental bill is a deciding factor on which airport he will travel to when on business.

In Maine, petitioners have managed to stall moves to raise taxes on rental car bills from 10% to 12.5%. Residents who are fed up with rising costs have now forced legislators to put the proposed tax increase to the vote in the middle of next year.

Most states see a tax on rental cars as an easy way to raise money as they struggle to balance the books during an unstable economic time. However car rental firms are beginning to show that they don’t particularly enjoy their new roles as tax collectors. It is hard for them to justify the hikes in prices to their customers and so eight of the worlds largest car hire companies have come together to appeal against tax rises and to make the renting public more aware of what exactly these taxes are on the final bill.