Truckers sue state of Oregon over ‘unconstitutional’ weight-mile tax

The Oregon Trucking Association and three Oregon-based trucking companies are suing the state for allegedly overcharging truckers under the weight-mile tax.

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, the Oregon Trucking Association, Combined Transport, A&M Transport and Sherman Bros. Trucking filed a lawsuit against the state of Oregon, the Oregon Department of Transportation, Gov. Tina Kotek, Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) and House Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis). The lawsuit claims that the state’s weight-mile tax is unconstitutional by forcing truckers to pay more than their fair share.

At the center of the lawsuit is Article IX, section 3a of Oregon’s constitution, which “ensures that the share of revenues paid for the use of light vehicles, including cars, and the share of revenues paid for the use of heavy vehicles, including trucks, is fair and proportionate to the costs incurred for the highway system because of each class of vehicle.”

According to the lawsuit, truckers have been paying “an ever-increasing and disproportionate share” of the state’s road revenue. That claim is backed up by the state’s own studies.

Under the same section of the Oregon constitution, the state must submit a Highway Cost Allocation Study every two years. That study determines the proportionate share that heavy and light vehicle users should pay.

According to the 2023-25 Highway Cost Allocation Study, truckers are being overcharged by the weight-mile tax as a proportion of road use.

“Under existing tax rates and fees, light vehicles are projected to underpay their responsibility by 12.2%,” the study states. “Heavy vehicles are projected to overpay by 32.4% during the next biennium.”

This isn’t new. The last three studies have concluded that truckers in Oregon are overpaying. Despite the study results, the state has continued to collect road taxes without adjusting for equitability between vehicle types.

The issue is not lost on some state lawmakers. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, voiced her support for the Oregon Trucking Association’s lawsuit.

“As a proud owner of a family-operated trucking business myself, I fully support the Oregon Trucking Association’s lawsuit against the state of Oregon for overpayment of weight-mile taxes,” Boshart Davis said. “Our trucking businesses have been paying far more than our fair share of highway taxes for too long. By 2025, that number will total half a billion dollars in overpayments. I urge my colleagues in the Legislature to consider future opportunities to resolve this injustice.”

In December, Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, and Rep. Anna Scharf, R-Amity, called for a one-day special session to specifically adjust the weight-mile tax to make sure truckers are no longer overcharged.

“It is more expensive to operate a truck in Oregon than any other state in the nation,” Scharf said in a statement. “We simply cannot force trucking companies and independent truckers to shoulder the burden of Oregon’s transportation taxes and continue to knowingly violate Oregon’s Constitution.”

That special session never happened. Soon after time expired to allow that session, the Oregon Trucking Associations filed its lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the Legislative Assembly “failed to comply with its constitutional obligations.” The Oregon Trucking Association is asking the court to declare the defendants violated the constitution by not making mandatory weight-mile tax adjustments. Furthermore, the lawsuit seeks to stop the “unconstitutional” weight-mile tax from taking effect in 2024 and for the state to conduct an immediate review and adjustment of revenue sources.

Plaintiff trucking companies also are seeking to recover the amount of weight-mile tax they have overpaid. Between those three companies alone, that amount comes to nearly $1 million.

“For far too long, Oregon trucking companies, the vast majority of which are small, family-owned businesses, have paid far more than their fair share of transportation taxes,” Oregon Trucking Association CEO Jana Jarvis said in a statement. “By 2025, the trucking industry is expected to have overpaid by half a billion dollars. Trucking companies in Oregon simply cannot sustain paying the highest transportation taxes of any state in the country any longer.” LL