The following table lists the 52 cities monitored by the Tax Policy Center by what percentage of the total bill is devoted to taxes. The hypothetical trip includes purchase of four nights' lodging, five days' car rental, twelve meals, and one set of international arrival and departure airport charges.  

For a five day trip to Beijing, China, expect to devote about 1.0% of your total expenses* to travel taxes; for the same trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, expect taxes to account for about 24% of your travel expenses.  The average for all 52 surveyed destinations is 13.95%.

*Travel expenses in this case include lodging, dining, and car rental costs.

 

Tax Barometer Rankings by Total %

City

Total %

Total % Rank

Copenhagen

24.25%

 52
London 21.66% 51

Vienna

20.65%

 50

Brussels

20.17%

 49

Miami

19.51%

 48

Johannesburg

18.76%

 47

Buenos Aires

18.73%

 46

Chicago

18.23%

 45

Stockholm

17.99%

 44
Frankfurt

17.94%

 43

Tel Aviv

17.77%

 42

Istanbul

17.71%

 41

Montreal

17.63%

 40

Munich

17.45%

 39

Los Angeles

17.16%

 38

Santiago

17.11%

 37

Boston

17.08%

 36

San Francisco

16.81%

 35

Nairobi

16.80%

 34

Sydney

16.65%

 33

Vancouver

16.64%

 32

Athens

16.59%

 31

Mexico City

16.33%

 30

Helsinki

16.32%

 29

New York City

15.62%

 28

Honolulu

15.51%

 27

Amsterdam

15.16%

 26

Toronto

15.09%

 25

Rio de Janeiro

14.79%

 24

Paris

14.46%

 23

Sao Paulo

14.03%

 22

Mumbai

13.90%

 21

Auckland

13.39%

 20

New Delhi

13.18%

 19

Rome

13.11%

 18

Cairo

12.50%

 17

Madrid

11.17%

 16

Jakarta

10.72%

 15

Barcelona

10.69%

 14

Manila

10.49%

 13

Prague

10.20%

 12

Seoul

10.14%

 11

Zurich

9.98%

 10

Geneva

9.45%

 9

Bangkok

7.80%

 8

Kuala Lumpur

6.46%

 7

Tokyo

6.27%

 6

Osaka

6.21%

 5

Taipei

5.54%

 4

Singapore

4.98%

 3

Hong Kong

2.18%

 2

Beijing

0.97%

 1

(1=most competitive, 52=least competitive)