Trucking firms favor proposed 12-cent tax hike
By Wayne Risher
Originally published 05:52 p.m., June 19, 2014
Updated 12:05 a.m., June 20, 2014
Updated 12:05 a.m., June 20, 2014
The trucking industry on Thursday backed a new plan to raise fuel taxes to replenish a sagging Highway Trust Fund but urged lawmakers to keep working on a long-term solution to fix America’s roads and transit systems.
Memphis-based FedEx Corp. and its rival, United Parcel Service said they support the bipartisan plan by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, to raise fuel taxes 12 cents a gallon over the next two years. UPS trucks log 2.3 billion miles a year and FedEx trucks about 635 million.
“FedEx believes that the nation’s infrastructure is in need of critical upgrades and modernization,” FedEx spokeswoman Maury Donahue said. “Failure to make these investments will continue to hamper our global competitiveness and lead to continued wasteful use of fuel by vehicles stuck in traffic jams.” FedEx’s Freight and Ground units
FedEx picks up and delivers express packages by truck and also operates trucking-based FedEx Freight and FedEx Ground.
Donahue added, “We support this effort to address this vital issue on a short-term basis. We also support measures to provide long-term sustainable funding for Highway Trust Fund.”
UPS, which is primarily a trucking company but also has a smaller cargo airline, had a similar view.
“It’s a bipartisan common sense proposal,” spokeswoman Kara Ross said. “We’ve long supported a user fee-funded transportation bill. We think all of the different ways you can fund it need to be on the table and there needs to be a robust discussion about it. In the end, what we need is a long term bill that will enhance American competitiveness.”
Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer has been pushing for highway funding reform for a couple of years.
He said through a spokesman, “I appreciate Senator Corker’s efforts to address the insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund, which is already affecting the progress of transportation projects in Tennessee. As chairman of the finance committee for the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, I will continue to encourage members of Congress to address the critical need for a long-term reauthorization bill.”
Schroer didn’t specify what he thinks the long-term solution should be.
Schroer’s agency derives more than half its funding from federal fuel taxes. In the current fiscal year, federal fuel taxes are providing $965 million of a $1.8 billion budget. It’s unclear how a proposed federal increase of 49 percent for diesel and 65 percent for gasoline would affect Tennessee’s share of taxes.
The Senate plan would raise the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax and 24.4 cents-a-gallon diesel tax in two annual hikes of six cents each, then index the taxes to keep pace with inflation. The federal taxes haven’t increased in 21 years.
The senators called for the tax increases to be offset by tax breaks elsewhere, such as extending a state and local sales tax deduction that expired this year.
Marty Morelli, president of the Traffic Club of Memphis, said, “I believe this is the best short term proposal for funding our infrastructure to come from the Senate, but would prefer a long-term funding program managed at the state level to insure more efficient use of resources.” Morelli works for Old Dominion Freight Line.
Memphis-based FedEx Corp. and its rival, United Parcel Service said they support the bipartisan plan by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, to raise fuel taxes 12 cents a gallon over the next two years. UPS trucks log 2.3 billion miles a year and FedEx trucks about 635 million.
“FedEx believes that the nation’s infrastructure is in need of critical upgrades and modernization,” FedEx spokeswoman Maury Donahue said. “Failure to make these investments will continue to hamper our global competitiveness and lead to continued wasteful use of fuel by vehicles stuck in traffic jams.” FedEx’s Freight and Ground units
FedEx picks up and delivers express packages by truck and also operates trucking-based FedEx Freight and FedEx Ground.
Donahue added, “We support this effort to address this vital issue on a short-term basis. We also support measures to provide long-term sustainable funding for Highway Trust Fund.”
UPS, which is primarily a trucking company but also has a smaller cargo airline, had a similar view.
“It’s a bipartisan common sense proposal,” spokeswoman Kara Ross said. “We’ve long supported a user fee-funded transportation bill. We think all of the different ways you can fund it need to be on the table and there needs to be a robust discussion about it. In the end, what we need is a long term bill that will enhance American competitiveness.”
Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer has been pushing for highway funding reform for a couple of years.
He said through a spokesman, “I appreciate Senator Corker’s efforts to address the insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund, which is already affecting the progress of transportation projects in Tennessee. As chairman of the finance committee for the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, I will continue to encourage members of Congress to address the critical need for a long-term reauthorization bill.”
Schroer didn’t specify what he thinks the long-term solution should be.
Schroer’s agency derives more than half its funding from federal fuel taxes. In the current fiscal year, federal fuel taxes are providing $965 million of a $1.8 billion budget. It’s unclear how a proposed federal increase of 49 percent for diesel and 65 percent for gasoline would affect Tennessee’s share of taxes.
The Senate plan would raise the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax and 24.4 cents-a-gallon diesel tax in two annual hikes of six cents each, then index the taxes to keep pace with inflation. The federal taxes haven’t increased in 21 years.
The senators called for the tax increases to be offset by tax breaks elsewhere, such as extending a state and local sales tax deduction that expired this year.
Marty Morelli, president of the Traffic Club of Memphis, said, “I believe this is the best short term proposal for funding our infrastructure to come from the Senate, but would prefer a long-term funding program managed at the state level to insure more efficient use of resources.” Morelli works for Old Dominion Freight Line.
No comments:
Post a Comment