AAA Fights to Keep Oregon’s Ton-Mile Tax on Trucks

January 19, 2000 2:12 PM, EST

The Oregon branch of the American Automobile Association isn’t going to quietly let go of the state’s weight-distance tax on trucking, despite the 1999 legislation that repealed the tax.

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AAA vowed to defeat the weight-distance tax repeal and nickel gas tax increase in a public referendum in May. The organization will also hit up members for money to pay for the campaign, a step it hasn’t resorted to in past battles with trucking.

“We’ll do our best to raise money to wage a winning campaign,” said Roger Graybeal, president of the AAA Oregon/Idaho board of directors. “We plan to win this.”

The repeal is part of a road funding package signed by Gov. John A. Kitzhaber in September (9-13, p. 1). It increases the state’s gas tax by 5 cents and replaces the weight-distance tax with a 29-cent diesel fuel tax that truckers will have to pay and up to eleven-fold increases in truck registration fees.

For the full story, see the Jan. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.