Cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages are great ways to plan an affordable vacation. Unfortunately some destination cities have such high travel taxes that your final travel expenses will be much costlier than other less taxed destinations.
The two cities which are at the opposite extremes of travel taxes are Chicago and Fort Lauderdale. Visitors to Chicago will pay almost 80 percent more in travel taxes than the average tourist visiting Fort Lauderdale.
This is based on a study by the Global Business Travel Association which considered both overall sales tax rates and travel specific taxes such as tariffs on hotel rooms, rental cars and restaurants that appeal to tourists.
The highest taxing cities were Chicago, New York, Seattle, Boston, and Kansas City, Mo., respectively.
Florida had the top three cities that charged the least overall tax rates for visitors: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach. Detroit and Portland, OR, ranked fourth and fifth.
To make taxes more palatable to locals, many cities generate revenues by taxing products and services, such as hotels and rental cars that are principally used by tourists. Many city and state taxes are placed on the rental car and restaurant industries in order to offset projected budget shortfalls and to pay for new athletic stadiums and sports arenas. www.cheapfares.com