Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/107618
journal leading news, trucking market conditions and industry analysis Congress eyes vehicle miles tax, GAO weighs in Industry says VMT fees too costly, supports adjusting fuel tax T he U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation that would create a pilot program to research vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a new funding source for the Highway Trust Fund. The bill would require the Federal Treasury to conduct studies to demonstrate the viability of a VMT revenue source in every state. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) sponsored the legislation to create a program similar to the pilot program undertaken in his home state. Fuel-efficient vehicles have resulted in insufficient revenue for the HTF, says Congress. The Congressional Budget Office has said the newest fuel economy standards for automobiles will result in a 21 percent reduction in HTF revenue by 2040. Nevada, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas and New York have had pilot projects charging drivers for miles traveled rather than fuel consumed. Oregon is beginning the second phase of its project, which will expand the pool of users and test collection methods to address questions raised in the initial phase. Blumenauer's bill was referred to committee Dec. 17 with no co-sponsors. A few weeks later, the Government Accountability Office recommended creating the pilot program. GAO, considered the investigative arm of Congress, issued the Jan. 8 report upon request by a House appropriations subcommittee. If Congress further explores mileage fees, it should consider a pilot program to test viability of these fees for commercial trucks and electric vehicles, the researchers recommended. Also, the Federal Highway Administration should update estimates of road damages imposed by vehicle types compared with the tax revenues generated by each vehicle category. Reliable startup and administrative cost estimates to implement a passenger vehicle mileage fee system are not available, the researchers stated. Still, implementing a system to collect fees from 230 million passenger vehicles "is likely to greatly exceed the costs of collecting fuel taxes," GAO wrote. The GAO report noted the general public was resistant to using Global Positioning Systems to gather mileage data. Forty-five of the 51 transportation departments for every state and the District of Columbia reported privacy concerns would present a great challenge to developing a mileage fee program in their state. Trucking organizations, including the American Trucking Associations, have criticized VMT fees as costly for compliance, administration and enforcement. Industry leaders instead have supported adjusting the fuel tax rate to inflation, which has not occurred since 1993. CSA being audited over data quality T he U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General has initiated an audit of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Compliance Safety Accountability program. This month, OIG began assessing whether CSA has adequate controls to ensure the quality of the data used to evaluate carrier performance and risk. The office also will examine if the program effectively implemented enforcement interventions. The House highways and transit subcommittee held a Sept. 13 hearing over concerns regarding CSA data and methodology. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), then subcommittee chairman, and ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) requested OIG report on the program by Aug. 1. OIG and the Government Accountability Office will coordinate the audit, which was mandated in a 2011 appropriations bill to review CSA's identification of Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/subscribe-to-newsletters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. high-risk carriers. commercial carrier journal CCJ_0213_JOURNAL.indd 9 – Jill Dunn | february 2013 9 1/23/13 8:36 AM