Portland Plans To Make Truckers Pay Millions For Street Maintenance

Portland, Oregon, has a plan introduce a new tax that will force truckers to pay millions for road maintenance.

Portland Plans To Add Percentage Tax To Already Established Weight-Mile Fee

The plan, dubbed the “Portland Heavy Vehicle Use Tax”, is expected to bring in around $2.5 million trucker dollars by adding a 2.8 percent increase to the weight-mile fee that they already pay.  So, according to a fact sheet on the proposal, “a business that paid $10,000 in Oregon weight-mile taxes would be assessed an annual heavy vehicle use tax of $280.” The extra 2.8 percent would go directly to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The fact sheet assures most business owners that the tax won’t affect them much — unless their business happens to be trucking:  “A handful of very large trucking businesses will pay more based on their volume of trucking activity.”

Officials Feared That Truckers Would Avoid Their Truck Stop To Keep From Paying Diesel Tax

Portland chose the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax over a diesel tax because they feared that trucks would simply avoid fueling up at the city’s only truck stop.

The proposed tax comes in addition to a plan by Portland officials to institute a 10 cent gas tax.

The tax does not require a public vote to go into law. The Portland City Council will consider the proposed tax on May 4.

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Sources:
Portland Mercury