State Rental Car Surcharge
New Jersey state imposes a $5 a day surcharge on rental car, but a new bill has been introduced that would exempt car-sharing businesses like Zipcar and Hertz Connect from this surcharge.
The legislation defines a car-sharing organization as an organization the runs a membership program intended to offer an alternative to car ownership, under which people that become members are permitted to use vehicles from a fleet on an hourly basis. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that alternatives to car ownership receive different tax treatment from car-rental commercial transactions. The state's Commerce and Economic Development committee green-lighted the bill as a way of promoting car-sharing programs. The social and environmental benefits of these programs can include reduced congestion, parking hassles and pollution, and they have proven to be a success so far in cities like Hoboken where a new public/private car-sharing initiative is gaining popularity.