Don't tax car sharing

Washington state's policy goal of reducing carbon emissions dovetails nicely with the car-sharing companies' business model of providing a way for people to rely less on car ownership.

That's why the Legislature should enact a law exempting from the state's car-rental tax Zipcar, which recently merged with Flexcar. Car-sharing firms and car-rental companies are very different. Zipcar members usually are residents already paying local taxes and who rent vehicles for a matter of hours. Rental-car customers tend to be out-of-towners who rent for days. In July, the state Department of Revenue determined the car-sharing company had to begin collecting the car-rental tax Nov. 1, adding about $1 to the $10-per-hour rental fee Zipcar charges its members. That's on top of the sales tax members already pay — almost 9 percent in King County, where most of the state's 20,000 Zipcar members are.

Gov. Christine Gregoire, who ordered the state to begin reducing greenhouse-gas emissions on an aggressive schedule, urged the Revenue Department to revisit the matter. But the agency could find no legal means not to require the tax.

The House Finance Committee will consider two bills Wednesday that would establish reasonable ways to distinguish car-sharing firms from car-rental companies. To be exempt from the tax, car-sharing firms would have to have an average rental length of no more than eight hours and no more than four vehicles at a car-sharing location.

Car-sharing helps people live without cars by providing them access to one when they need it. That means fewer cars and less carbon emission.

The state should be encouraging car sharing, not taxing it.