Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) urges fellow lawmakers to support his efforts in repealing the long-standing 12% federal excise tax on new trucks. In a recent address to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, LaMalfa emphasized the need to alleviate the financial burden on those interested in purchasing new trucks.
LaMalfa’s proposed legislation, known as the Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act of 2023, has gained bipartisan support and aims to abolish the outdated World War I-era tax.
“There is a federal excise tax specific to them of 12% on a new vehicle — 12%. Now, we want to promote newer, cleaner-burning and safer, better trucks to be on our highways, and so the disincentive for that is to hit them for a 12% tax on the purchase of that new vehicle,” said LaMalfa during a committee hearing Oct. 18 that examined the status of the federal Highway Trust Fund. “And as we note with the other forms of taxation — the Highway Trust Fund — there’s a user-pay, user-benefit aspect to all the other different forms of it, and this one here is not a user-pay, user-benefit because it’s indeed hidden every time you buy one of those new vehicles if you choose to do so.”
Fuel tax revenue supports the trust fund, providing essential funding for transportation projects. Proposed legislation seeks to repeal the federal excise tax, which could save truckers and small businesses up to $30,000. In addition to cost savings, this repeal would benefit the supply chain and consumers. The legislation also aims to promote using newer, safer, and cleaner trucks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing reliance on foreign energy. While a vote has not yet been scheduled in the House, a companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Ben Cardin and Todd Young.
“It’s time to repeal this outdated and onerous tax on our Hoosier truckers,” Young said.
“Our legislation will spur growth and competitiveness while making our roads safer and less polluted,” Cardin said.
Join The Clean Freight Coalition, and the American Trucking Associations are urging Congress to take action. ATA President Chris Spear has already voiced his opposition to this tax during the federation’s conference.
“If the goal is to reduce emissions, eliminate the century-old federal excise tax,” Spear told freight executives at ATA’s 2023 Management Conference & Exhibition in Austin, Texas.
In April, ATA Chairman Andrew Boyle, co-president of Massachusetts-based Boyle Transportation, raised the point during a Senate hearing: “Eliminating the [federal excise tax] will reduce the cost of new technologies by tens of thousands of dollars and is a technology-neutral solution that allows companies to invest in not only battery-electric, but alternative fuel vehicles as well depending on the availability of infrastructure to support the specific technologies.”
In addition to ATA, Clean Freight Coalition members include American Truck Dealers, Natso, the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, the National Tank Truck Carriers, and the Truckload Carriers Association.
Source: Transport Topics
