Page 34 - ATR 1 2013

CALENDAR OF EVENTS including intercity passenger rail.
“Transportation is a core function
of government. Children can’t get to
MARCH APRIL school; parents waste too much time in
traffic; and businesses can’t move their
mARCh 11-14 ApRIL 11 goods without an adequate and efficient
AMeRIcAn TRuckIng sAfeTy MAnAgeMenT And transportation system,” McDonnell
AssocIATIons, Technology & MAInTenAnce & Technology
MAInTenAnce councIl councIls MeeTIng said.
AnnuAl MeeTIng & North Little Rock, Arkansas “It’s a dramatic proposal to shift
TRAnspoRTATIon Technology funding from the gas tax to the sales
exhIbITIon ApRIL 21-25
gaylord opryland hotel & cVsA WoRkshop tax, and we’re going to have to look
Conference Center galt house hotel & Suites at what it means when you discon-
Nashville, Tennessee Louisville, Kentucky nect the tax from the actual use of the
ApRIL 24-26
mARCh 14 5Th AnnuAl ATA roadways,” said Stewart Schwartz, the
sAfeTy MAnAgeMenT councIl cAll on WAshIngTon executive director of the Coalition for
MeeTIng Washington, d.C.
Springdale, Arkansas Smarter Growth and frequent critic of
the McDonnell administration’s fund-
mARCh 26-28 SAVE THE DATE
TRuckIng AssocIATIons ing priorities.
InsuRAnce councIl 2013 mAy 8-10, 2013 Virginia isn’t the only state explor-
spRIng confeRence ATA busIness confeRence & ing alternatives to fuel subsidies.
grand hotel point Clear Resort & Spa VendoR shoWcAse
point Clear, Alabama peabody hotel, Little Rock, Arkansas
fEdEral SalES Tax oN fUEl
mAy 30-JUNE 1, 2013 In one of his last announcements
ATA TRuckIng chAMpIonshIps
John Q. hammons Convention Center before retiring after 14 years in his
Rogers, Arkansas post, Joe Horsley, the executive director
of the American Association of State
factors, have eaten into the tax’s buy- Commonwealth’s transportation pro- Highway and Transportation Officials
ing power. The 17.5 cents per gallon tax gram,” McDonnell said. (AASHTO), challenged the nation to
currently accounts for about one-third Instead of raising the tax or peg- replace the per-gallon tax on diesel and
of the state’s transportation funding, ging it to annual inflation adjustments, gasoline with a federal sales tax.
although the tax has lost 55 percent of the governor wants to eliminate it, A federal 10.6 percent sales tax on
its purchasing power when adjusted for although the state diesel tax would diesel and an 8.4 percent sales tax on
inflation since 1986, the last time it was remain in place. Virginia would then gasoline would contribute $350 billion
raised. abandon a fundamental premise of into the Highway Trust Fund over six
“My transportation funding and transportation funding: motorists who years. The current per-gallon tax and
reform package is intended to address use the roads pay for the roads in the truck excise taxes will generate only
the short- and long-term transportation form of taxes. $236 billion, Horsley said in a speech
funding needs of the Commonwealth. With the passage of the governor’s during the national meeting of the
Declining funds for infrastructure entire plan, which also includes higher Transportation Research Board (TRB).
maintenance, stagnant motor fuels tax vehicles registration fees and a $100 The current federal tax—24.4 cents
revenues, increased demand for transit charge on electric and natural gas per gallon on diesel and 18.4 cents on
and passenger rail and the growing cost vehicles, Virginia will receive more than gasoline—has not been increased in 20
of major infrastructure projects neces- $3 billion over five years to fund road years, while more fuel-efficient vehicles
sitate enhancing and restructuring the construction and transit development, are narrowing the revenue stream.

“The people of arKaNsas were preseNTed wiTh aN opporTuNiTy aNd They

chose To pursue iT.”

—madisoN murphy, former chairmaN, arKaNsas highway commissioN

34 arKanSaS truCKing report | issue 1 2013