U.S. cities where travelers are taxed the most

By Brad Tuttle
October 3, 2012
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Courtesy <a href=" http://mybt.budgettravel.com/service/displayKickPlace.kickAction?u=12077011&amp;as=21864&amp;b=" target="_blank"> Kruzer57/myBudgetTravel</a>

In 18 major U.S. cities, the average visitor coughs up more than $30 a day in taxes related to their trip.

Using data gathered via the Global Business Travel Association, the trade publication Auto Rental News has come up with a list of taxes paid by the average visitor in the 50 top destinations in the U.S. for business travelers.

The grand daily tax total was tallied by adding up the mandatory taxes levied on a typically-priced car rental ($55.22), hotel room ($99.47), and restaurant meals ($88.65) for one day.

The results put into numbers what many travelers have known all along: We're paying a heckuvalot in taxes.

According to the research, even without factoring in the taxes fliers pay for airline travel, the average traveler is taxed to the tune of $28.09 per day. A traveler can expect to pay over $30 in taxes daily in 18 cities, including Las Vegas, Denver, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Nashville, Seattle, and Boston.

Unsurprisingly, the two cities where travelers pay the most in taxes are New York and Chicago, where the taxes are calculated at $37.01 and $38.85 respectively. Look at how the totals are added up, however, and you'll realize that travelers in these cities are probably paying far more in taxes than the figures listed.

The bulk of taxes in most cities on the list come from hotels, and the sample taxes listed are based on hotel rooms that cost just under $100 a night. Rooms at anywhere near that rate are hard to come by in Chicago and New York, and in many other U.S. cities on the list, for that matter. So even if travelers skip rental cars (which makes sense if staying downtown in a major city), odds are they're paying even more in taxes that the list suggests.

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