Car rental companies and the National Business Travel Association criticized New Jersey lawmakers for including an excise tax in the New Jersey Economic Stimulus Plan of 2009.

New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate were scheduled to vote on the bill on Thursday.

The bill includes a provision allowing certain municipalities, including Newark and Elizabeth (where Newark Airport rental locations are located), to impose up to a 5% excise tax on rental transactions.

Car rental customers in New Jersey already pay a tax of $5 per day on top of the sales tax, noted Don Fonte, Hertz’s government relations director.

"Now Newark and Elizabeth car rental customers are being asked to up the ante another 5% for local economic development projects," Fonte said. "As a longtime New Jersey-based company, we are speaking up on behalf of these consumers and businesses and publicly objecting to such an unfair tax policy."

NBTA President Kevin Maguire said, "Our research indicates that the majority of NBTA member companies spend at least half of their car rental budgets in their home markets. That means if New Jersey legislators proceed with this outrageous car rental excise tax, they will be pulling money straight from the bottom lines of companies based in Newark and Elizabeth."