The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“LEGISLATION TO SIMPLIFY THE EXCISE TAX ON HEAVY TRUCK TIRES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E289-E290 on March 6, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LEGISLATION TO SIMPLIFY THE EXCISE TAX ON HEAVY TRUCK TIRES
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HON. WES WATKINS
of oklahoma
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, March 6, 2001
Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that would simplify the excise tax on heavy truck tires.
The IRS and the tire manufacturers are today laboring under an unnecessary administrative burden. The tire industry pays an excise tax on heavy truck tires that goes directly to the Highway Trust Fund. But the means by which the IRS collects the tax are inefficient and costly. Under the current collection system, the IRS requires manufacturers to weigh each line of taxable tires for each tire size, to track the sales and taxes paid for each tire, and to maintain burdensome compliance systems to verify sales and tax payments by weight. Manufacturers must determine if a tire is for a taxable highway use or for a non-taxable off-road use, and then track whether the purchasers are tax exempt. This system of tax collection is both onerous and wasteful; I propose we change it.
The legislation I am introducing today would reduce these administrative burdens without reducing any revenue to the Highway Trust Fund. It does this by revising the current system based on the weight of the tire to one based on the weight-carrying capacity of the tire. This new system would simplify the payment and collection of taxes for both the tire industry and for the IRS--resulting in reduced expenses for both.
We also may simplify this tax by adopting a bright line that identifies which tires are subject to the excise tax. Under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act, as administered by the Department of Transportation, all tires sold in the U.S. for highway service are required to be marked with the maximum weight carrying capacity of the tire. The IRS would take the data already collected by the DOT and base its tax on the amount per pound of weight carrying capacity. And the tax rate would be set at an amount that provides revenue neutrality to the U.S. Treasury.
This much-needed bright line test would be simple to apply and easy to enforce: Tires that meet the DOT test by being marked with the appropriate notation are subject to tax. Tires that are not marked cannot be used on the highway.
I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting this legislation.
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