FEDERAL HEAVY VEHICLE COST RESPONSIBILITY AND WEIGHT DISTANCE TAX STUDIES. HIGHWAY SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAY TRANSPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS

Methodologies and findings from the Federal Heavy Vehicle Cost Responsibility and Weight Distance Tax Studies are presented. The two studies were required following Federal Highway use tax changes in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 1984. The Heavy Vehicle Cost Responsibility was to provide information on highway cost responsibility of vehicles over 80,000 pounds gross weight and assess whether they pay their fair share. It was found that heavy vehicle cost responsibility increases at an accelerating rate with axle load and that revenue to cost responsibility rates decrease with increasing truck weight with those over 80,000 pounds paying less than their fair share depending upon configuration. The Weight Distance Tax findings were that administrative and compliance costs could vary widely for different carriers, evasion could be higher than the truck taxes, equity among users would be improved and that such a tax is indeed feasible.