OOIDA opposes proposed fee on motor carriers

An effort to bolster the Highway Trust Fund includes a $100 fee on motor carriers that is opposed by OOIDA.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee spent hours on Wednesday, April 30 marking up its budget reconciliation proposal. Part of the proposal included efforts to create stability for the Highway Trust Fund. The original proposal included a $200 fee on electric vehicles, which previously had not contributed to the fund. It also included a $100 fee on hybrid vehicles and $20 on most other passenger vehicles. As of Wednesday afternoon, the markup hearing was still in progress.

Although the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association supports efforts to make sure that all road users pay their fair share into the Highway Trust Fund, the group opposes a provision that would impose a new $100 annual fee on small motor carriers.

OOIDA said the new fee would be used to duplicate freely accessible U.S. Department of Transportation data.

“Motor carriers should not be forced to pay $100 a year to access a website that tells brokers and other industry professionals whether or not they are permitted to operate,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote in a letter to committee leaders sent ahead of April 30 vote. “If FMCSA has determined that a carrier isn’t fit to operate, then the agency should notify carriers directly and take appropriate action. Furthermore, this system is designed to provide liability protections to brokers. In essence, carriers will be footing the bill to protect brokers from lawsuits.”

During a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, April 29, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., outlined many of the ways that truckers are taxed.

“Truckers have paid enough into the tax system,” said Collins, who owns a trucking company.

OOIDA said that the $100 annual fee would be another way to tax truckers.

“Small-business truckers already pay numerous taxes and fees to the Highway Trust Fund, and as part of this reconciliation process, we believe Congress should eliminate unnecessary fees,” OOIDA wrote. “There is broad agreement that program beneficiaries, such as road users with the Highway Trust Fund, should be the ones paying in to it. Instead, motor carriers will view (the provision) as a fee they pay to provide liability protections for brokers. If Congress wants to enact this protection for brokers, it should do so with a well-defined program that isn’t funded on the backs of small-business truckers.” LL