This Editorial appears in the June 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Imagine a time when a statewide trucking organization, in order to help its state government pay for necessary improvements to roads and bridges, supports a proposal that the state float a bond issue to cover the work and volunteers to have its members pay most of the bills for the work through a jump in the diesel fuel tax.
And further imagine that the state legislature and the governor — who know a good deal when they see one — agree to this win/win proposal.
But also imagine that these politicians, fearful of upsetting the taxpayers by uttering that obscene “T” word — Taxes — decide to add one caveat to that too-good-to-be-true offer from their trucking community: Require that the voters confirm their approval of the new tax through a referendum.
And, to cap it all off, imagine that a poll designed to test the mood of the voters finds very strong opposition to the plan, opposition widespread enough to virtually guarantee that the referendum will fail.
Unfortunately, the above scenario is exactly what has happened in Arkansas, and it has led to the shelving of the referendum.
This is a lesson that all of us in trucking need to absorb and learn from if there’s any hope that our nation will address our critical need to renew and expand our highway infrastructure.
The Arkansas Trucking Association worked hard to convince the state legislature to agree to raise their diesel fuel tax by 5 cents a gallon to fund road construction projects throughout the state.
While the state group’s proposed tax would have fallen mainly on trucking, it’s not all that different from American Trucking Associations’ proposal that Congress raise federal fuel taxes to pay for road and bridge projects. And ATA hasn’t even been able to get as far as Arkansas did and has been unable to muster sufficient support from Capitol Hill or the White House, for the same reasons behind the Arkansas fiasco.
We certainly understand that these are tough economic times for many Americans and that the prospect of new taxes is not a welcome one.
But we are also all too aware of the dire need for us to rebuild and expand our national infrastructure if we intend to remain a worldwide economic powerhouse.
And we don’t know of any way to pay for these projects without a funding source.
We can only hope that this anti-tax mania is a passing thing, and that voters come around to supporting worthwhile investments in our country’s future.
