Letters to the Editor: Bailout, Road-Use Tax, LTL Reweighing, Border Projects, Mexican Border
These Letters to the Editor appear in the Oct. 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Bailout
The $700 billion bailout plan (and this is just the beginning) is not for mortgages and homeowners; it’s for mortgage-backed securities. Hedge funds are the main holders.
If the government has to be involved, then pick only those claims directly tied to mortgages. The government should not touch any derivatives, i.e., claims not directly linked to mortgages.
This bailout will involve the biggest transfer of wealth from Americans to financial institutions in our history. Let financial institutions fail, merge or get bought. I am surprised American Trucking Associations wants more government.
Tim Benedict
Jacksonville, Fla.
Road-Use Tax
With fuel tax revenues decreasing because of more fuel-efficient vehicles and vehicles that do not use liquid fuels, it seems that now may be the time to enact legislation to tax motorists for “miles driven” instead of “per gallon.”
The following examples are geared toward automobiles and light trucks using gasoline, but the theory would work as well for diesel-powered vehicles.
The gasoline tax now is about 1 cent per mile, e.g., if a car goes 18 miles per gallon and the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, the present road-use tax on gasoline is 1 cent per mile for cars.
The “1 cent per mile road-use tax” also could be applied to electric cars or other cars that do not use gasoline. For example, when an electric (or other alternatively fueled) car is purchased, the miles-driven road-use tax could be taken care of at the same time by buying a 10,000-mile windshield sticker and paying $100. If the motorist drives those 10,000 miles, he gets another sticker for additional mileage at 1,000-mile increments.
Or, in another scenario, electric vehicles could be equipped with a cut-off switch on the ignition that would turn the motor off when the road-use tax has been used up. A warning light on the dashboard would alert the motorist when the tax was almost depleted.
In another variation, bar codes could be installed on gasoline-powered cars and bar-code scanners installed on gasoline pumps, which would pump gas then according to the Environmental Protection Agency miles-per-gallon rating of the car or truck. The tax would then be added to the bill when the gasoline was purchased.
If and when these methods of taxing gasoline were started, the present 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax would be repealed. Because of their weight, for trucks the per-mile tax could be 5 cents, 10 cents or more per mile driven. By taxing “miles driven,” gas tax revenues would be available for road repairs and construction from all vehicles, including the more fuel-efficient vehicles and electric vehicles still putting wear and tear on roads and highways but presently not paying any road-use taxes.
Steve Kirkikis
Retired Physician
Shreveport, La.
LTL Reweighing
I have been involved with the shipping industry for 34 years and also have been a longtime subscriber to Transport Topics. There have been many interesting stories and events, but I think our company has just come across one of the biggest scams ever in the less-than-truckload industry.
Many large LTL carriers are now offering dockworkers an incentive to identify, report and rebill shipments at higher — and not necessarily accurate — weights than those recorded on the bill of lading.
Doesn’t sound unreasonable? Think again. We just challenged a national LTL carrier on its findings on several shipments. We took the time to replicate the shipments in question at dock level. In all cases, shipments were reweighed. In all cases, the bills of lading were correct.
Mike Sweeney
Vice President, Logistics
Company Name Withheld by Request
Pallatine, Ill.
Border Projects
The TTNews Web site carried a Sept. 19 report about the Department of Transportation’s new border projects in California, Texas and Washington state to relieve congestion. We all can understand the states of Texas and California — but Washington? (Click here for previous story.)
Michigan has one of the most congested crossing areas in the country — in Detroit and Port Huron. Throw in Sault Ste. Marie, and you have congestion at its finest.
DOT’s Mary Peters should reset her priorities quickly. We are rebuilding the Detroit Gateway project to relieve this area, but getting back into this country by car or truck from Canada is a time-consuming disgrace and a waste of diesel fuel.
Michigan could use extra help.
David Litchfield
Account Executive
MMS Inc.
Royal Oak, Mich.
Mexican Border
How can anyone allow trucks from Mexico to operate on U.S. roads without meeting U.S. Department of Transportation standards?
Canadian trucks must meet our standards. Why would we put ourselves at extreme risk from potentially substandard equipment we would not allow U.S. companies to operate in this country? How does it benefit us? Shouldn’t we be our first concern? Shouldn’t we operate this country in our best interest?
This isn’t helping them; it’s killing us.
David Stoneburner
Driver
Morrisville, Pa.
