Bare rental: 8.25% in every city on this site
Texas charges state sales tax of 6.25% with local rates up to 2.00% on top. All twenty cities we cover are at the 8.25% ceiling, so for bare equipment rental that is the baseline everywhere.
TERP: an extra 1.5% on off-road diesel over 50 hp
The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan imposes a surcharge on the sale, lease or rental of off-road heavy-duty diesel equipment rated 50 horsepower or more. It is 1.5% of the rental amount, reduced from 2% by HB 7 effective 1 September 2015, and it is collected by the supplier alongside sales tax and in addition to it.
The practical effect: an electric slab scissor lift is taxed at 8.25%, while a diesel rough terrain scissor lift, boom lift or telehandler over the threshold reaches 9.75%. On a four-week hire of a large machine that difference is not trivial.
Watch the threshold. Plenty of compact diesel lifts are specified just under 50 hp, so whether the surcharge applies depends on the specific unit rather than the class. It is a fair question to ask a supplier before signing.
Operated equipment is generally not a taxable rental
Where equipment is supplied WITH an operator and billed as a single charge, the transaction is generally not treated as a taxable rental of tangible personal property in Texas. That is a meaningful distinction for crane work, where the choice between bare rental and operated and maintained is not just about labour.
The treatment depends on how the contract is written and how the charge is presented, so confirm it on the quote rather than assuming.
Road-legal units may be taxed as a motor vehicle
Bucket trucks, boom trucks and similar road-legal equipment can fall under Texas Motor Vehicle Rental Tax instead of sales tax, at 10% for rentals of 30 days or less and 6.25% for 31 to 180 days, depending on registration and classification.
Because which applies is genuinely unsettled without looking at the specific unit, we do not publish a tax rate for those classes anywhere on this site. The supplier confirms it on the written quote.