Three international car rental agencies (Avis, Hertz, Budget) all list the tax rate for car rental at 10%. They also list an additional Airport concession fee / administrative fee of $22.50 or $25.00. I only checked for rentals on the Dutch side of the island. That is as definitive as I have found as I was unable to find any government site listing the fees.


I do believe that the final cost is important but I also believe that knowing what goes into the makeup of that final price is also important. I have read many a discussion on this forum about tipping. I can remember 20+ years ago, when I was fairly new to visiting the island, that I would get a dinner bill, add 20% tip to the amount and move on. I would come to learn to look at my receipts before tipping because often enough restaurants would list a “tax” of anywhere from 12% to 20%. I would add my tip to these bills and these places were making a killing. I learned, and changed my habits accordingly.

Another example is property rental on the island. The government tax on non-timeshare vacation rentals is 5% but I have seen places try to charge as high as 25%. Some places will list this as taxes and fees but what these charges if you dont have an explanation. Currently a lot of VRBO property listers roll all their fees into a general grouping called “taxes” because most renters wont question the charges. The real-estate company on the island (that I rent from) lists taxes at 15%, but 10% of that is money that they use to pad their commission. I only pay 5% with them because I called them out on the issue and they decided they would rather have the twice a year rental from me and a standard commission than see my money spent elsewhere. I always leave the rental company an extra tip and they join us as our guests at least one evening for dinner on each trip. (two very nice women that are now our friends)