The National Ground Water Association has joined a coalition of more than 200 organizations advocating for a suspension of the federal excise tax on new heavy-duty trucks and trailers.
The Modernize Truck Fleet Coalition is aiming to have a suspension of the federal excise tax included in future COVID-19 stimulus legislation or potentially put forward as a separate piece of legislation.
The bipartisan coalition consists of manufacturing, automotive, and agricultural organizations. The United Auto Workers, one of the largest labor unions in the country, has also joined the coalition.
“We simply can’t do our job of providing communities with safe and clean water without trucks,” said NGWA Government Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Snelten, PG. “We need a system that encourages purchasing new and safer vehicles that will help expand our small businesses. This tax does the opposite and we feel it’s time for Congress to act.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, truck-manufacturing, dealership, and supplier jobs in the United States have been negatively affected by government-ordered closures and the economic uncertainty, causing fleets to delay or cancel truck orders. Heavy-duty truck sales are predicted to decline nearly 50 percent in 2020 due to the economic fallout.
Class 8 truck sales declined in July by 42.5 percent compared to the same time last year. The 12 percent federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks and trailers is a costly barrier to new purchases, further depressing sales and hurting the 1.3 million U.S. workers in Class 8 truck- and trailer-manufacturing jobs.
In the pending economic recovery legislation, the Modernize Truck Fleet Coalition calls on Congress to temporarily suspend the federal excise tax until the end of 2021 to help save jobs, modernize the truck fleet, and boost the economy.
Learn more about the Modernize Truck Fleet Coalition.