Tell Senator Cornyn – No new truck-only taxes!

May 20, 2021

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During a Senate Committee hearing yesterday, your Senator, John Cornyn, suggested hitting truckers with a 25-cent per-mile vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax to fund infrastructure. Citing a report on taxing heavy trucks, Sen. Cornyn said that this could raise $33 billion a year on the backs of truckers to fix the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) shortfall. When witnesses pointed out that there would be significant challenges and costs to implement such a system, the Senator dismissed those concerns and said that “we’ve got to come up with some money from somewhere.”

Sen. Cornyn said he doesn’t “believe there’s any political support for increasing the gas tax across the board.” He also said that he wouldn’t support any increase to corporate tax rates. Instead, he seems to think that singling out truckers is the easiest way that Congress can raise money.

After a year of working throughout the pandemic to keep critical supplies moving, it is unbelievable that the Senator would single out truckers to address the funding shortfalls created by Congress’ inaction.

Please contact Senator Cornyn today to let him know that truckers won’t stand to be singled out to fix the HTF! Let him know that you already pay much more in taxes and fees than the average light-duty vehicle – about 5 times as much per mile. Truckers have always been willing to pay more into the system, but they refuse to be singled-out. Most importantly, let him know that including a truck-only VMT in any highway bill or infrastructure package would be the legislation’s ruin.

Contact Senator Cornyn:

  •      Washington, D.C. office: 202-224-2934
  •      Austin office: 512-469-6034

You can also send the Senator an e-mail through his website here.

If you receive any feedback from the Senator, please let us know via questions@ooida.com. Thank you for continued support of OOIDA!