Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Taxes Trust the truck lobby?
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 6:54 AM
Call me cynical. Idle talk from the truck lobby about maybe, possibly, if-the-creek-don't-rise supporting an unspecified diesel tax increase next year (free beer tomorrow) strikes me first as a ploy to further work against repeal of the truck/trailer total sales tax exemption set to go into effect July 1. It was supposed to be a companion measure to voter passage of a diesel tax increase, but the election was scrapped because of expected failure. Truckers first said they wanted to keep the sales tax break anyway, but an uproar forced a grudging agreement to voice support for repeal.
But the giveback can't happen without legislative action and rules severely restrict anything but budget work in the coming fiscal session.
The sizable Republican legislative contingent has already made clear its enmity toward anything that could be called a tax increase (this technically wouldn't be an increase; repealing the exemption would only stop implementation of a planned cut). But between election year anti-tax fervor and the difficulty in repealing the tax giveaway without an extraordinary majority vote in the fiscal session, the truckers are well positioned to see the giveaway take effect in July 1 as scheduled. That should be an outrage to other taxpayers unable to pull disappearing tax tricks on the legislature. But, if they can oil the waters by promising a proposed diesel increase effort of some amount some time in the great by and by, it might make the something-for-nothing deal go down a little easier.
Perhaps this is unfair. Perhaps we should trust the good intentions of the truck lobby, which is single-handedly responsible for destroying interstates at a rate faster than taxpayers can rebuild them, even though we keep borrowing money to do it.
Speaking of Truck Lobby, truck Sales Tax Exemption
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Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
Keep in mind that today's lifestyle is made possible by trucks. Not only do they haul most consumer goods, but they keep factories running. "On time delivery" is now expected by manufacturers. Railroads are no longer equipped to handle that, although they work well for cross country shipments (using piggybacks). One of the biggest problems faced by trucking companies today are trained drivers. Drug tests have worked well at taking the "high" ones off the road.
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I believe heavier faster vehicles cause the most wear and tear on road surfaces. The revenue to repair the roads is wanting.
How much are trucks or trailers charged for annual registration? Is it enough? Does that registration money go back into roads? I think a fair stream of additional revenue for transportation funds should be based on the size and weight of the vehicle.
Additionally, the savings from eliminating funds for active modes of transportaton will be only 1.6% of transporation funds. That would be enough to repair all bridges needing repairs today in 80 year's time. Nonetheless this Thursday The House will vote on whether to eliminate all funding for active modes of transportation - also known as Transportation Enhancement and Safe Routes to School to name a couple - from the renewed transportation bill. If successful, say goodbye to sidewalks, enhanced protection for kids walking to school, crossing signals for pedestrians,...
Everything you say is true Verla, but a growing number of us would prefer our food and other goods to be locally produced. Cheap transportation makes that difficult. Cheap transportation is one of the main factors we buy so much abroad. The cheap labor is just part of it.
I live in Arkansas. It seems unnatural to buy green onions from Mexico and catfish from Vietnam. We should be buying these items off small trucks from local farmers that don't damage our roads, not a huge Walmart or SYSCO truck full of food from Asia and S. America. I'd complain about the frigate that brought the food over, but they don't damage our roads.
The trucking industry is the Number 1 argument that federal and state highways ought to be funded on the basis of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) times a weight factor, and leave the existing fuel tax where it is. Folks driving smaller cars, which cause little pavement damage, would pay a small fee for road maintenance, whereas the truckers and overweight loads would come a whole lot closer to paying for their fair share of the wear, tear, and damage they cause to the roadways. To be really fair about it, charge everyone from bicycles on upwards to the triple-trailer rigs. I'll stack my 40-pound bike against that 53-foot tractor-trailer rig any day, ieven if you count my 200-pound butt sitting on it ;-)
Must you be so rough on our Broken Pavement Creators? It's apparently the American Way to not pay taxes, period. I assume Stephens continues to not pay taxes on newspaper paper. The vile old rat bastard, Don Reynolds got that tax removed back in the 1950s....because....uh...because he wanted all the help he could get to die a billionaire before it was so damn popular. He also cheated his workers out of fair pay for 60 years, but that's the American Way he pioneered before most of us were born and I hope you'll think of the thousands of workers who were treated unfairly the next time you haul your ass into a building with Don Reynolds's name on it.
I shop at Harp's and my onions come from Peru, just for the record. Imports benefit the importers. I'm not paying less for onions, Peruvian onions don't help Joe Farmer, but they make someone we don't know very rich so he can donate to the Republican Party to keep the gravy train rolling....over our broken highways.
How many poor truckers do you know? The majority of trucks traveling over Arkansas's broken highways are registered in other states. I forget now, but there are at least 2 US states who are very kind to truckers and that's where most of the trucks are registered. Look at the license plate of the next 18 wheeler you're behind....it won't say Arkansas. You pay for their free gifts, you pay and pay and pay. Ain't right.
Both diesel fuel and gasoline are exempt from sales tax in Arkansas. Repeal the sales tax exemption on it and use the revenue to build and maintain the roads. No brainer.
Pscyclepath--fuel tax goes only so far. I believe there is a type of pro-rata allowance, but many trucks fuel in Oklahoma or Texas, and refuel in Tennessee. Where does that leave Arkansas?
Verla:
That's where the VMT fee comes in, you pay some $ amount for each ton hauled per mile in the state of Arkansas, or wherever. We already collect a portion of the fuel tax on cross-country trucks in this manner (or at least we're supposed to be doing that according to the tax code)... Trucking companies are at least supposed to record miles driven in AR and pay a proportional fee based on the fuel tax.
But you're right... One problem with the interstates is that you can fill up over in Memphis and not even stop to whizz or buy a Co' Cola and a moon pie until you're halfway across Oklahoma ;-)
Look at the Oklahoma plates on the next Walmart truck that overtakes you on the interstate. No more of the pro-rated licenses to every state. And these trucks aren't over-the -road trucks from out-of-state but from their DC's in Bentonville, Searcy and many other places in the state.
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