Question of the Day — 16 May 2004

Is the new $3-a-day Las Vegas car-rental tax over and above the existing outrageous taxes on car rentals?

"Over and above" and "outrageous" are both correct.

As of May 1, when you rent a car at McCarran Aiport in Las Vegas, you pay a $3-per-day "consumer facility charge."

That’s in addition to the "reimbursement of registration and license fee" of 4%, the "Nevada rental service fee" of 6%, the state "sales tax" of 7.5%, and the "airport concession recovery fee" of 10%.

All told, that’s 27.5% in taxes, not including the new $3-per-day charge.

You can avoid the 10% and $3-per-day taxes by picking up your car at a non-airport location. But be careful here. Some rental car companies, such as Avis, charge higher rates for picking up a car elsewhere. For a weekly rental of a mid-sized car picked up at the airport, Avis quoted a base rate of $179.99. The price with all the taxes, surcharges, and fees rose to $255.21 (just under 30%). On the same car, we were quoted $385.39, not including taxes, to pick it up at their Aladdin location. Yikes!

On the other hand, for a weekly rental of a mid-sized car picked up at the airport, Budget quoted us a total charge of $269.58, while picking up the same car at their location on W. Sahara would cost $165.42 including taxes.


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