City Officials Want Truckers To Pay $2.5 Million A Year For Street Upkeep. Here's How.

Portland Mercury:

As it works to convince you to institute a 10-cent gas tax on May 17, City Hall wants everyone to know it's not letting enormous trucks off for free. Sure, those trucks wouldn't have to pay the tax, but now we've got our first look at how the city will look to make them pony up. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is circulating a proposal [PDF] for a "Portland Heavy Vehicle Use Tax" that would tack on an additional percentage to the state fees truckers already pay.

By taxing 2.8 percent of the weight-mile fee trucking outfits pay the state for their abuse of state roads, the city thinks it can pull in the $2.5 million a year it says is heavy trucks' fair share of road repair. Taken in tandem with the gas tax on the ballot next month, the plan could result in $18.5 million a year targeted to city streets in the next four years—a fraction of Portland's estimated need for road repairs, but also the most progress Portland's seen toward corralling more cash for transportation in a decade or more.

Even if the gas tax fails, PBOT says, the business tax plan will move forward. Truckers have said they oppose it.

Read the full article here. Discuss below.