Travelers to Chicago and New York City in 2013 again bear
the highest tax burden of any major market in the United States, according to
the Global Business Travel Association Foundation's annual study of lodging,
car rental and meal taxes.
The study covered the top 50 U.S. markets ranked by air
passenger travel and, for city centers, determined taxation levels based on an average
hotel room night rate of $105.31, a one-day car rental expense of $57.05 and $93.32
in daily meals costs. It found that travelers pay $41.04 in taxes in Chicago
and $38.65 in New York. The two cities also had the highest tax burden for
travelers in GBTA's 2012 study.
Other cities with high daily travel taxes include Minneapolis
($36.70), Kansas City ($36.61) and Indianapolis ($36). The lowest travel tax
burdens are in Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, each with
a combined $22.61 in daily travel taxes, followed by Detroit ($22.80) and
Portland, Ore. ($22.86).
In and around airports, using the same daily base prices, travelers
pay the highest taxes at New York JFK ($38.65), Kansas City International
Airport ($37.20) and Chicago O'Hare ($36.82). Airport visits in Fort
Lauderdale, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach generate the lowest average travel taxes,
each at the same rate as their respective city centers.
The GBTA Foundation study also measured "discriminatory"
travel taxes, or those "above and beyond general sales taxes."
Ironically, among city centers, Portland, Ore., has the highest "discriminatory"
rate despite having one of the lowest overall travel tax burdens because it has
no broad-based local sales tax. Other cities with comparatively higher "discriminatory"
taxes include Boston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Chicago. Five California
markets had the smallest differentials between travel and general sales taxes:
Burbank, Orange County, Ontario, San Diego and Oakland.
On average, travelers in 2013 paid 58 percent
more in travel taxes than they would have at the general sales tax rate, up one
percentage point from the GBTA Foundation's 2012 study.