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House Bill Would Repeal Heavy-Truck Federal Excise Tax

Photo: David Cullen

A new effort to ax the 12% federal excise tax on most heavy-duty trucks, tractors, and trailers has been mounted on Capitol Hill by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). He introduced the Heavy Truck, Tractor and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2017 (H.R. 2946) on June 20, a bill that would repeal the FET on the retail sale of trucking equipment.

“The excessive 12% federal excise tax on heavy trucks adds tens of thousands of dollars to truck purchases and directly impacts the cost of food, consumer goods and other products Americans need,” Rep. LaMalfa said in a statement. “Even worse, truck owners large and small pay this tax whether a truck is driven 100,000 miles or never driven at all, forcing them to pay taxes on an investment that may not be generating any revenue.

“Repealing the truck tax will help small businesses invest in new equipment while jump-starting domestic manufacturing.” He added that removing the truck FET should be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee when it drafts legislation to reform the overall tax code.

The FET was originally imposed in 1917 to help defray the cost of World War I. The tax has grown from 3%, when it was incorporated into the Highway Trust Fund in 1955, to 12% now.

The American Truck Dealers, a division of the National Automobile Dealers Association, applauded LaMalfa's bill.

“The 12% federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks in the highest percentage rate of any federal excise tax that Congress levies, and it adds $12,000 to $22,000 to the price of a new heavy-duty truck,” said ATD Chairman Steve Parker, who is president of Maryland-based Baltimore Potomac Truck Centers. “The FET depresses new heavy-duty truck sales and delays the deployment of cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient trucks.”

Parker also called ...Read the rest of this story

Spot Truckload Rates Remain at Two-Year Highs as Loads Dip

Average national spot truckload rates remained at two year highs for the week ending June 17th as the number of posted loads dipped 1% and truck posts gained 8%, according to DAT Solutions and its network of load boards.

Load-to-truck ratios retreated but remain at a three-year high with both reefers and flatbeds down 10%, at 9.1 loads per truck and 44.5 loads per truck, respectively. The van load-to-truck ratio fell 9% to 5.2 to 1.

This happened as on-highway diesel prices continued to slide and fell another 3 cents to a national average of $2.49 per gallon.

The number of posted van loads declined 1% while truck posts increased 9% last week. The national average van rate held steady at $1.79 per mile after adding 11 cents from May 27 to June 10.

DAT said two van markets to watch are Los Angeles and Houston. In Los Angeles van freight climbed more than 10% over the last month and the average rate there added 2 cents per mile last week, hitting $2.30 per mile.

Average outbound rates from Houston rebounded last week, up 6 cents to an average of $1.87 per mile. Houston-New Orleans rose 22 cents to an average of $2.65 per mile while Houston-Oklahoma City hit a new high at $2.30 per mile.

Elsewhere, average outbound rates fell on 40 of the top 100 van lanes.

Reefer load posts dipped 2% while truck posts jumped 8% last week. The national average reefer rate was unchanged at $2.11 per mile, the highest average in nearly two years. On the top 72 reefer lanes, only 27 had higher rates.

Two reefer markets to watch are: