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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

I certainly have no love list for the big rental car companies, but I don't see any logical reason why I should have to pay additional taxes and fees when renting from Hertz but not GetAround or Turo.

The article didn't go into it that much, is the current issue that Turo is arguing that, as just a "platform", that hosts are the ones responsible for taxes and fees and they're just not collecting or paying them? Similar to what AirBnB said in the early days? Because I don't understand why existing laws would apply only for traditional rentals but not peer-to-peer rentals.

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These companies are very much about externalizing the cost. They externalize cost onto the public for what is free pickup/dropoff of friends/family. They externalize the cost of maintenance and insurance onto the owners. They externalize the cost of public parking area to "store" the cars when not in use.

What you most often are looking at is corporations exploiting benefits to the public for their profit.

There's a guy in my city who is apparently parking 40 turos by his house and using up a lot of the street parking to do it.

This is a flaw caused by unlimited free on street parking, a zoning flaw that needs to be fixed

There should be no street parking when it removes a lane from traffic. seems an awful waste of space for one car that could be used to move vehicles.

In old neighborhoods like mine, most people don't have driveways. I've found that this is most common in the oldest US cities, like Philadelphia.

So instead of regulating a multi-million dollar “startup” we should regulate everyone else instead.

I guess so, yeah. Free parking is a tax on everyone, but especially the lower class. This happens because the extra space needed raises the cost of goods, of adjacent property, and so on. The poorest and those without their own cars have to pay for it too. Regardless of why we're looking into it now, it is a problem, and we should address it. [1]

[1] https://www.vox.com/2014/6/27/5849280/why-free-parking-is-ba...

This sounds like a nightmare. Not to mention the possible safety issues as this “fleet” starts to age.

The city ought to tow and impound all of them at once. Last time my car got towed it cost me $250 to get it back; this guy might shape up real quick if he suddenly gets a $4,000 bill to get his cars back, not to mention the time spent running around to how many different tow lots.

Why should you have to pay taxes for either? Why is renting a car something that should have extra penalties over owning one? As someone who doesn't own a car anymore (as a lifestyle choice) I'm now noticing many hidden things in the US which benefit car-owners to the detriment of the car-free.

Completely agree. All the extra fees and hassle around car rentals are why I eventually bought a car, even though I really only need it sporadically -- mostly for vacations.

I think the taxes on rental cars are often a type of "tourist tax". Politicians seem to find it easy to approve taxes on people who can't vote in their reelection campaigns.

To provide a counterpoint, local taxes pay for a lot of local things. So why should a tourist benefit from a bunch of things that they did not pay for? A tourist tax is a way to make sure they are paying their share of it.

Rental car tax applies to locals as well, though.

ISTR my state has an exclusion for local residents. I don’t believe the exclusion applies at rentals at the airport. I wouldn’t be surprised to find most states have rental car/hotel tax exclusions for locals.

benefits like clean air and good roads don't cost more when a tourist arrives.

A tourist also pays taxes from VAT and other sources,but do not benefit from them. So it evens out I presume.

But tourist tend to generate economic activity. A benefit that locals would want more of. The taxes a tourist pay is disencentivizing.

I would argue that they actually do... More people coming in and using roads and moving around contribute to the deterioration of the roads and more pollution.

Regular motor vehicles don’t do nearly as much harm to the roads as OTR trucks, yet we subsidize those for the benefits they bring...

The article takes the example of airport pickup. Traditional rental companies pay for a premium space, staff. With Turo, most people agree on a precise time and location pickup. For example, I'll be outside gate XX at 4:15pm, meet me there with the black Toyota Camry. This means the person renting out can drive and arrive there at 4:15pm, and just hand out keys. That person didn't pay a fee to be outside the gate, like many other people who welcome friends and family.

So traditional rental companies are pissed off because they have to pay for the space.

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