Texas House panel advances truck tax pilot program pursuit

Pursuit of a vehicle-miles-traveled tax in Texas has taken the first step at the statehouse.

The House Transportation Committee recently held multiple hearings on a vehicle miles tax bill before approving it Wednesday, April 5, on a 10-1 vote.

Sponsored by House Transportation Committee Chairman Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, the bill would authorize a vehicle mileage user fee pilot program and a task force to assist in developing and evaluating the program.

The bill, HB3418, states that the pilot program would “assess the feasibility of eliminating state motor fuels taxes and other transportation user fees.”

Texas now collects a 20-cent-per-gallon tax rate on gas or diesel purchases.

Canales told the committee a vehicle-miles-traveled tax is the best option for long-term transportation funding.

“If we must replace the motor fuels tax, which is rapidly coming, we are already seeing that electric vehicles and other people are not paying their fair share,” Canales said. “VMT offers the best promise for a fair and equitable funding source in the maintenance of Texas roads.”

Task force

The appointed panel would be charged with conducting at least three public hearings on the pilot program. The group also would be responsible for making recommendations on the design and on the criteria used to evaluate the pilot program and “other alternative approaches to motor fuel taxes.”

Pilot program

The program would assess a user fee on owners of commercial vehicles based on the number of miles traveled in the state.

Additionally, the program would be limited to 300 participants with onboard vehicle mileage-counting equipment added to their vehicles.

The pilot program would be in place for one year.

At the conclusion of the program, the Texas Department of Transportation would be responsible for providing a report to the legislature summarizing the results. Included in the report must be the feasibility of permanently assessing a vehicle mileage user fee and a comparison of other alternative approaches or supplements to fuel taxes.

HB3418 awaits further consideration in the House.

Truckers speak out

Professional drivers and others submitted comments to the committee prior to the public hearings.

Truck driver Shanne Brown of Ben Wheeler, Texas, told committee members truckers already pay enough taxes.

“As a property owner and native Texan, if y’all keep trying to make Texas into California that’s what you’ll get,” Brown wrote. “Rates are down, brokers are stealing, everything truck related is higher and higher by the day, yet rates are paying 1993 wages.”

Owner-operator and OOIDA life member James Rowland of Midland, Texas, also submitted testimony in opposition.

“No more taxes. Please. Truck drivers pay enough taxes. We are already struggling. And this would not be fair.”

The Texas Trucking Association added that a vehicle miles tax would be an invasion of privacy.

“I know this is just a study, but it’s a slippery slope,” TTA Chairman John Prewitt testified.

Pursuit is not new to Texas

Efforts in the Texas Legislature to tap a vehicle-miles tax to replace the state fuel tax is not unique.

Previous efforts have included legislation to impose a vehicle-miles-traveled tax on all vehicles registered in the state that travel at least 5,000 miles per year. One bill from 2013 would have calculated the vehicle miles traveled tax for motorists by charging a penny per mile minus the estimated fuel taxes paid by the vehicle owner. The truck tax would have been set at 1.25 cents per mile.

An annual odometer inspection would have been used to measure the actual vehicle miles traveled. LL

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