LEGISLATURE GOES AFTER CARS, GIVES TAX BREAK TO BIG TRUCKS

Legislation introduced yesterday goes after car owners today

BOISE - Motorists who drive vehicles weighing less than 8,000 pounds will pay registration fee increases ranging from 50 to 100 percent more than they do now if hastily introduced legislation in the House yesterday passes. But AAA Idaho says the largest trucks that use the roads most will pay as little as two percent more for their registration fees if companion legislation, HB 631 passes.

The bills were introduced and printed late Tuesday in the House Ways and Means committee and were printed and scheduled for a public hearing that takes place today at 1:30 p.m. They are the newest proposals drafted to address Idaho's annual $240 million shortfall for Idaho roads and transportation infrastructure.

Compared to Governor Otter's proposal which would have increased all car registrations $150.00, the $24 per vehicle increase in Representative JoAn Wood's HB 632 seems tame in comparison, but AAA Idaho Director of Public and Government Affairs Dave Carlson says the devil is in the details of the truck registration legislation that will also be heard today in the House Transportation Committee hearing.

"Sponsors claim the legislation brings parity, but the flat fee $100 increase for all trucks actually amounts to a tax shift," Carlson said. "We've told the governor and legislative leaders that we agree with the concept that if you use it, you should pay for it, but portions of the trucking industry make this tax shift look like a tax break."

Currently, motorists pay two thirds (67%) of the taxes and fees that comprise Idaho's Highway Distribution Account, primarily through their contribution paid through Idaho's 25 cent gas tax. They pay $40.4 million in registration fees compared to trucks which pay $47 million. HB 632 would raise motorists' contributions by another $30 million. By comparison, the truck bill would increase the trucking industry's share just $8.5 million.

That action is at odds with the state's most recent cost allocation assessment, that shows combination trucks are paying just 80 percent of their share of the money raised and how we currently spend it. In addition, as a member of Idaho's Forum on Transportation Investments, AAA Idaho showed that Idaho's shift to a registration fee schedule for trucks in 2000, led to a $10 million loss to the Highway Distribution Account.

"State revenue data and a 2004 study by the University of Idaho for ITD make the case that the biggest trucks that do the most damage pay less than other Idaho based carriers," Carlson said. "If every registration across the board, for cars and trucks was increased the same 20 percent, Idaho could raise $106 million, and we'd be much closer to the parity lawmakers are talking about."