Oregon Lawmakers Repeal Weight-Distance Truck Tax

Oregon legislators have given in to pressure from truckers and voted to eliminate the state’s 52-year-old weight-distance tax.

It took the Oregon House three tries in the span of 48 hours to kill off the nation’s oldest such taxing system, but late in the day of July 23 representatives in the capitol at Salem pushed the repeal over the top on a 36-24 vote. The measure was sent to Gov. John Kitzhaber, who is expected to sign it.

The state Senate had already approved the plan proposed by the Oregon Trucking Associations that replaces the weight-distance tax with a 29-cent diesel fuel tax and large increases in truck registration fees (7-26, p. 4).

The owner of an 80,000-pound truck will see the Oregon registration fee jump from $320 to $3,667.

espite the 11-fold fee increase and what will now be the nation’s second-highest diesel fuel tax, the switch from weight- and mileage-based taxes is supposed to be “revenue neutral” for most carriers. That is, the total tax and fee outlay should be no worse. The legislation contains breaks in the registration fee aimed at low-mileage or low-weight truckers on whom the ton-mile tax fell most lightly.

When then-Gov. Earl Snell signed a law on April 17, 1947, creating a new type of tax that attempted to reflect the weight of a vehicle and the miles it traveled on Oregon highways, he probably had no idea he was giving life to what would become one of the most hated truck taxes in the nation.

Truckers have argued since that weight-distance taxes create administrative headaches for the government agencies responsible for them and are expensive to collect. Trucking fleets complain about the detailed reporting requirements and the intensive paperwork needed to fulfill them. Those complaints fell on deaf ears in Oregon — until now.

For the full story, see the August 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.