USER FEE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4016 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a tax on the use of certain electric highway vehicles to fund the Highway Trust Fund. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 17, 2021 Mr. SMUCKER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a tax on the use of certain electric highway vehicles to fund the Highway Trust Fund. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Using Sustainable En- 4 ergy Resources to Fund Equitable e-Transportation Act’’ 5 or as the ‘‘USER FEE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4016 IH SEC. 2. TAX ON USE OF CERTAIN ELECTRIC HIGHWAY VEHI- 1 CLES TO FUND THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND. 2 (a) IMPOSITION OF TAX.—Chapter 1 of the Internal 3 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after sub- 4 chapter V the following new subchapter: 5 ‘‘Subchapter W—Use of Certain Electric 6 Highway Vehicles 7 ‘‘SEC. 1400W–1. USE OF CERTAIN ELECTRIC HIGHWAY VEHI- 8 CLES. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any person who 10 uses any specified electric highway vehicle during the tax- 11 able year, the tax imposed by this chapter shall be in- 12 creased with respect to each such vehicle by the product 13 of— 14 ‘‘(1) the applicable rate of tax, multiplied by 15 ‘‘(2) the applicable mileage. 16 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE RATE OF TAX.—For purposes of 17 this section, the term ‘applicable rate of tax’ means— 18 ‘‘(1) in the case of any plug-in hybrid vehicle, 19 1 cent, and 20 ‘‘(2) in the date of any other specified electric 21 highway vehicle, 2 cents. 22 ‘‘(c) APPLICABLE MILEAGE.—For purposes of this 23 section— 24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 25 graph (2), the term ‘applicable mileage’ means, with 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4016 IH respect to any taxable year beginning in any cal- 1 endar year, the average number of miles driven by 2 highway vehicles in the United States during the 3 second preceding calendar year, as estimated by the 4 Secretary after consultation with the Secretary of 5 Transportation. 6 ‘‘(2) ELECTION TO USE ACTUAL MILEAGE.—In 7 the case of a taxpayer which elects the application 8 of this paragraph with respect to any vehicle for any 9 taxable year, the applicable mileage with respect to 10 such vehicle shall be the number of miles driven by 11 such vehicle during such taxable year if the taxpayer 12 provides or maintains such documentation as the 13 Secretary may require. 14 ‘‘(d) ELECTRIC VEHICLE DEFINITIONS.—For pur- 15 poses of this section— 16 ‘‘(1) SPECIFIED ELECTRIC HIGHWAY VEHI- 17 CLE.—The term ‘specified electric highway vehicle’ 18 means any highway motor vehicle (as defined in sec- 19 tion 4482(a)) which is propelled to a significant ex- 20 tent by an electric motor which draws electricity 21 from a battery which— 22 ‘‘(A) has a capacity of not less than 4 kilo- 23 watt hours, and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4016 IH ‘‘(B) is capable of being recharged from an 1 external source of electricity. 2 ‘‘(2) PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLE.—The term 3 ‘plug-in hybrid vehicle’ means any specified electric 4 highway vehicle which includes an internal combus- 5 tion engine which is capable of recharging the bat- 6 tery described in paragraph (1). 7 ‘‘(e) RULES RELATED TO USE.— 8 ‘‘(1) OWNERSHIP TREATED AS USE.—Except as 9 otherwise provided by the Secretary, the registered 10 owner of any specified electric highway vehicle shall 11 be treated for purposes of this section as the user 12 of such vehicle. 13 ‘‘(2) PRORATION.—In the case of any person 14 who demonstrates to the Secretary in such manner 15 as the Secretary may provide that such person was 16 not the registered owner of such vehicle for any por- 17 tion of the taxable year, the tax determined under 18 subsection (a) shall bear the same ratio to such tax 19 (determined without regard to this paragraph) as— 20 ‘‘(A) the portion of such taxable year for 21 which such person was the registered owner of 22 such vehicle, bears to 23 ‘‘(B) the entire taxable year. 24 ‘‘(f) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4016 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 1 year beginning after December 31, 2022, the 1 cent 2 amount in subsection (b)(1) and the 2 cents amount 3 in subsection (b)(2) shall each be increased by an 4 amount equal to— 5 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 6 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter- 7 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 8 year in which the taxable year begins, deter- 9 mined by substituting ‘2021’ for ‘2016’ in sub- 10 paragraph (A)(ii) thereof. 11 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—Any increase determined 12 under paragraph (1) shall be rounded to the nearest 13 multiple of 0.1 cents. 14 ‘‘(g) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO INFORMATION AND 15 REVENUE SHARING AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary may 16 enter into an agreement with any State under which— 17 ‘‘(1) such State provides the Secretary such in- 18 formation as is identified in such agreement as in- 19 formation which the Secretary has determined would 20 aid in the administration and enforcement of this 21 section, and 22 ‘‘(2) the Secretary agrees to make payments to 23 such State of a portion of the revenue collected 24 under this section.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4016 IH (b) CERTAIN INCOME TAX CREDITS NOT ALLOWED 1 TO OFFSET TAX.—Section 26(b)(2) of such Code is 2 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph 3 (X), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph 4 (Y), and by adding at the end the following new subpara- 5 graph: 6 ‘‘(Z) section 1400W–1 (relating to use of 7 certain electric highway vehicles).’’. 8 (c) TRANSFERS TO HIGHWAY TRUST FUND.—Sec- 9 tion 9503(b)(1) of such Code is amended by striking 10 ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (D), by striking the 11 period at the end of subparagraph (E) and inserting ‘‘, 12 and’’, and by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol- 13 lowing new subparagraph: 14 ‘‘(F) section 1400W–1 (relating to use of 15 certain electric highway vehicles), determined 16 after application of subsection (f)(2) thereof.’’. 17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 18 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 19 December 31, 2021. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:30 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4016.IH H4016 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS