R.G. Edmonson | Feb 11, 2011 1:12PM EST
Importers would see a 60 percent increase in transportation taxes if Congress approves a measure aimed at raising revenue for national freight transportation.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., proposed the On Time Act (Our Nation's Trade, Infrastructure, Mobility, and Efficiency Act) with a 0.075 percent ad valorem "national trade gateway corridor" fee on imports and exports to fund a trust fund of the same name and maintained by the Department of Transportation.
The bill states that DOT would award grants from the trade gateway funds for states to spend on projects in designated trade corridors.
Importers already pay the Harbor Maintenance Tax, 0.125 percent of the value of their goods. In 1998 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the HMT to be an unconstitutional tax on exports.
Calvert filed a similar bill in 2008. Another 2008 bill to fund national freight infrastructure was sponsored by Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif. It proposed a $25 fee per TEU to fund freight projects. Both bills died at the end of the 110th Congress.
-- Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.
