OTA Primes for Weight-Mile Tax Battle

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Members of the Oregon Trucking Associations are hunting for cash to help pay for a $4.1 million campaign to keep their state’s weight-distance tax in the grave.

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OTA members traveled across the country to the winter executive committee meeting of the Truckload Carriers Association Feb. 6 to solicit money for television and radio advertisements.

Oregon voters are being asked to approve a referendum May 16 that would replace the state’s truck taxation system with a 29-cent diesel fuel levy and significantly higher truck registration fees. The referendum also proposes raising the gasoline tax by a nickel a gallon and increasing auto registration fees by $10. The Oregon legislature approved the plan last year, but the American Automobile Association and a state anti-tax group successfully petitioned to put the plan to a public vote (12-20, p.7).

If the weight-distance tax is upheld, it would be a bitter defeat for trucking interests in the state, which have fought the levy for years, claiming that it is costly to comply with and easy to dodge.

For the full story, see the Feb. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.