Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport has some of the highest taxes on rental cars in the country. Here’s exactly what they are and a real life example:

Taxes come in two flavors – cost per day (”fee’s”) and % of the rental price (percentage).

Percentage Taxes:
Arizona State Surcharge 5.0%
Maricopa County Surcharge 3.25% / $2.50 minimum per day
Sales Tax 15.3%
Concession Recovery 11.11% (You pay for the rental car center that you are bused to. Cool huh?)
Total Percentage Taxes: 34.7%

Fee’s:
Customer Facility (ie the awesome rental car center you’ll be bused to at Phoenix Sky Harbor – pay more) $6 per day
You thought that bus ride was free? Ha-ha-ha.
Energy Recovery $0.47 per day
Maintenance for the beautiful rental car facility – $0.77 / day
Total per day fee’s: $7.24

In a typical example – a $460 base cost / 8 day rental added total taxes of ~$191 or 42%. Talk about some taxation? Welcome to Phoenix. We’ll talk more in a later article about how to avoid the rental car taxes by combining great off-airport locations with private sedan shuttles. Avoid the rental car bus in Phoenix.