I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4175 

To protect consumers from discriminatory State taxes on motor vehicle 

rentals. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 2, 2009 

Mr. BOUCHER (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. 

BOREN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, and 

Mr. CARTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect consumers from discriminatory State taxes on 

motor vehicle rentals. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Discriminatory 

5 State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to prohibit prospectively, 

8 and provide a remedy for tax discrimination by a State 

9 or Locality against the rental of motor vehicles. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) ASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT JURISDIC3 TION.—The term ‘‘assessment’’ means valuation for a 

4 property tax levied by a taxing district. The term ‘‘assess5 ment jurisdiction’’ means a geographical area in a State 

6 or Locality used in determining the assessed value of prop7 erty for ad valorem taxation. 

8 (b) COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY.—The 

9 term ‘‘commercial and industrial property’’ means prop10 erty, other than motor vehicle rental property and land 

11 used primarily for agricultural purposes or timber grow12 ing, devoted to a commercial or industrial use, and subject 

13 to a property tax levy. 

14 (c) DISCRIMINATORY TAX.—The term ‘‘discrimina15 tory tax’’ includes the following: 

16 (1) A tax discriminates against the rental of 

17 motor vehicles if a State or Locality imposes the tax 

18 on, or with respect to— 

19 (A) the rental of motor vehicles but not on, 

20 or with respect to, the rental of more than 51 

21 percent of the rentals of other tangible personal 

22 property rented within the State or Locality, or 

23 (B) the rental of motor vehicles at a tax 

24 rate that exceeds the tax rate generally applica25 ble to at least 51 percent of the rentals of other 


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1 tangible personal property within the same 

2 State or Locality. 

3 (2) A tax discriminates against the business of 

4 renting motor vehicles if a State or Locality imposes 

5 the tax on, or with respect to— 

6 (A) the business of renting motor vehicles 

7 but not on, or with respect to, the business of 

8 more than 51 percent of the other commercial 

9 and industrial taxpayers within the State or Lo10 cality, on the same tax base as the State or Lo11 cality employs with respect to the business of 

12 renting motor vehicles, or 

13 (B) the business of renting motor vehicles, 

14 at a tax rate that exceeds the tax rate generally 

15 applicable to the business of more than 51 per16 cent of the other commercial and industrial tax17 payers within the State or Local jurisdiction. 

18 (3) A tax discriminates against motor vehicle 

19 rental property if a State or Locality— 

20 (A) assesses motor vehicle rental property 

21 at a value that has a higher ratio to the true 

22 market value of the property than the ratio that 

23 the assessed value of other commercial and in24 dustrial property of the same type in the same 

25 assessment jurisdiction has to the true market 


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1 value of the other commercial and industrial 

2 property, 

3 (B) levies or collects a tax on an assess4 ment that may not be made under subpara5 graph (A), or 

6 (C) levies or collects an ad valorem prop7 erty tax on motor vehicle rental property at a 

8 tax rate that exceeds the tax rate applicable to 

9 commercial and industrial property in the same 

10 assessment jurisdiction. 

11 (d) LOCAL OR LOCALITY.—The terms ‘‘Local’’ and 

12 ‘‘Locality’’ mean a political subdivision of any State, or 

13 any governmental entity or person acting on behalf of such 

14 Locality, and with the authority to impose, levy or collect 

15 taxes. 

16 (e) MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘motor vehicle’’ has 

17 the same meaning as in section 13102(16) of title 49 of 

18 the United States Code. 

19 (f) OTHER COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL TAX20 PAYERS.—The term ‘‘other commercial and industrial tax21 payers’’ means persons or entities who are engaged in 

22 trade or business within a State or Locality and who are 

23 subject to some form of taxation by a State or Locality. 

24 (g) RENTAL OF MOTOR VEHICLES.—The term ‘‘rent25 al of motor vehicles’’ means the rental of a motor vehicle 


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1 that is given by the owner of the motor vehicle for exclu2 sive use to another for not longer than 180 days for valu3 able consideration and only includes the rental of motor 

4 vehicles with a pre-arranged driver or motor vehicles with5 out a driver, but shall not include taxi cab service as de6 fined by section 13102(20) of title 49 of the United States 

7 Code. 

8 (h) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of the sev9 eral States, the District of Columbia or any territory or 

10 possession of the United States, or any governmental enti11 ty or person acting on behalf of such State, and with the 

12 authority to impose, levy or collect taxes. 

13 (i) TAX.—Except as otherwise specifically provided 

14 below, the term ‘‘tax’’ means any type of charge required 

15 by statute, regulation or agreement to be paid or furnished 

16 to a State or Locality, regardless of whether such charge 

17 is denominated as a tax, a fee, or any other type of exac18 tion. The term ‘‘tax’’ does not include any charge imposed 

19 by a State or Locality with respect to a concession agree20 ment at a federally assisted airport (provided the agree21 ment does not violate the revenue diversion provisions of 

22 section 40116(d) of title 49 of the United States Code, 

23 or the registration, licensing, or inspection of motor vehi24 cles, if the charge is imposed generally with respect to 

25 motor vehicles, without regard to whether such vehicles 


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1 are used in the business of renting motor vehicles within 

2 the State or Locality. 

3 (j) TAX BASE.—The term ‘‘tax base’’ means the re4 ceipts, income, value, weight, or other measure of a tax 

5 to which the rate is applied. The ‘‘tax base’’ of a tax im6 posed on a per unit basis is the unit. 

7 (k) TAX RATE GENERALLY APPLICABLE TO OTHER

8 COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL TAXPAYERS.—The term 

9 ‘‘tax rate generally applicable to other commercial and in10 dustrial taxpayers’’ means the lower of— 

11 (1) the tax rate imposed on the greatest num12 ber of other commercial and industrial taxpayers or 

13 their customers, or 

14 (2) the unweighted average rate at which the 

15 tax is imposed. 

16 SEC. 4. PROHIBITED ACTS. 

17 No State or Locality may levy or collect a discrimina18 tory tax on the rental of motor vehicles, the business of 

19 renting motor vehicles, or motor vehicle rental property. 

20 SEC. 5. REMEDIES. 

21 (a) JURISDICTION.—Notwithstanding any provision 

22 of section 1341 of title 28, United States Code, or the 

23 constitution or laws of any State, the district courts of 

24 the United States shall have jurisdiction, without regard 

25 to amount in controversy or citizenship of the parties, to 


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1 grant such mandatory or prohibitive injunctive relief, in2 terim equitable relief, and declaratory judgments as may 

3 be necessary to prevent, restrain or terminate any acts in 

4 violation of this Act, except that such jurisdiction shall 

5 not be exclusive of the jurisdiction which any Federal or 

6 State court may have in the absence of this section. 

7 (b) BURDEN OF PROOF.—The burden of proof in any 

8 proceeding brought under this Act shall be upon the party 

9 seeking relief and shall be by a preponderance of the evi10 dence on all issues of fact. 

11 (c) RELIEF.—In granting relief against a tax which 

12 is imposed in violation of section 4, the court shall strike 

13 the tax in its entirety, unless the court finds the tax— 

14 (1) is the equivalent of a specific tax imposed 

15 on at least 51 percent of other commercial and in16 dustrial taxpayers, and 

17 (2) is not discriminatory in effect. If such tax 

18 is discriminatory in effect with respect to tax rate or 

19 amount only, the court shall strike only the discrimi20 natory or excessive portion of the tax as determined 

21 by the court. Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this 

22 section, the burden of proof on the issue of whether 

23 a tax is the equivalent of a tax imposed on other 

24 commercial and industrial taxpayers shall be on the 

25 State or Locality that imposes the tax. 


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1 (d) CAUSE OF ACTION.— 

2 (1) An action to enforce the provisions of this 

3 Act may be brought only by a person who— 

4 (A) rents motor vehicles to another person, 

5 (B) is engaged in the business of renting 

6 motor vehicles, 

7 (C) owns motor vehicle rental property, or 

8 (D) rents a motor vehicle from another 

9 person. 

10 (2) A person who rents a motor vehicle from 

11 another person and is seeking relief under this Act 

12 may only bring a cause of action against the State 

13 or Locality imposing the discriminatory tax as de14 fined by this Act. 

15 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

16 This Act shall not be construed to constitute the con17 sent of Congress to State or Local taxation that would 

18 be prohibited in the absence of this Act. 

19 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this Act 

21 shall become effective on December 2, 2009. 

22 (b) EXCLUSION.—Discriminatory taxes as defined by 

23 this Act are not prohibited under this Act if— 

24 (1) State or Local legislative authorization for 

25 a discriminatory tax that is in effect as of December 


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1 2, 2009, does not lapse, the tax rate does not in2 crease and the tax base for such tax does not 

3 change; or 

4 (2) a State enacts legislation by December 2, 

5 2009; 

6 (A) that specifically authorizes a Locality 

7 to impose a discriminatory tax; 

8 (B) the Locality imposes the authorized 

9 tax within five years from the date the State 

10 enacted the authorization for the Local tax; and 

11 (C) the tax rate imposed by the Locality is 

12 not increased and the tax base for such tax 

13 does not change. 

Æ 


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