Our Say:Rental car levy less painful than most taxes

State and county officials alike are always on the lookout for a promising "stealth tax" - the holy grail of government revenue-raising.

A stealth tax is one that most residents - that is, most taxpayers - never directly encounter and so don't realize is there. The safest bet is to devise a way of taxing nonresidents, such as people who are visiting the jurisdiction.

So when Anne Arundel County officials look toward BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and its thriving rental car operations, their vision tends to go green.

In 2001, County Executive Janet Owens got the county delegation to consider a rental-car tax. But the...