Oregon's Ton-Mile Tax Lives On

Oregon legislators rejected a plan to replace the state's weight-distance tax with a levy on diesel fuel.

Oregon Trucking Associations, which advocated the switch, said a diesel tax would generate the same amount of revenue but would reduce evasion and get rid of the onerous paperwork and wasted time required by the weight-distance tax.

The change was to be part of a larger transportation funding package that includes gasoline tax and registration fee increases for all motorists.

Trucking has long opposed Oregon's weight-distance tax, the nation's oldest, but this year the repeal efforts went farther than ever before.

For the first time, a trucking-backed bill to get rid of the tax made it past the House Transportation Committee.

But lawmakers in the Revenue Committee voted against the repeal effort May 19 and approved the rest of the transportation package's measures, which include a phased-in gasoline tax increase and a $10 hike in auto registration.

For the full story, see the May 24 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.