Fairness for Every Driver Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 343 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles and to provide for a Federal highway user fee on alternative fuel vehicles. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mr. ROBERTS, and Mr. ENZI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles and to provide for a Federal highway user fee on alternative fuel vehicles. 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 ‘‘Fairness for Every 4 Driver Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 343 IS SEC. 2. TERMINATION AND REPEAL OF CREDIT FOR NEW 1 QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR 2 VEHICLES. 3 (a) TERMINATION.—Section 30D of the Internal Rev- 4 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 5 following new subsection: 6 ‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any of the 7 preceding provisions of this section, this section shall not 8 apply to vehicles placed in service after the date that is 9 30 days after the date of the enactment of this sub- 10 section.’’. 11 (b) REPEAL.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of 13 subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue 14 Code of 1986 is amended by striking section 30D 15 (and by striking the item relating to such section in 16 the table of sections for such subpart). 17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 18 (A) Section 38(b) of the Internal Revenue 19 Code of 1986 is amended by striking paragraph 20 (30). 21 (B) Section 1016(a) of such Code is 22 amended by striking paragraph (37). 23 (C) Section 6501(m) of such Code is 24 amended by striking ‘‘30D(e)(4),’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 343 IS (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 1 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin- 2 ning after the date that is 1 year and 30 days after 3 the date of the enactment of this Act. 4 SEC. 3. FEDERAL HIGHWAY USER FEE ON ALTERNATIVE 5 FUEL VEHICLES. 6 (a) IMPOSITION OF FEE.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Internal 8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 9 end the following new chapter: 10 ‘‘CHAPTER 50A—ALTERNATIVE FUEL 11 VEHICLE HIGHWAY USER FEE 12 ‘‘Sec. 5000D. Alternative fuel vehicle highway user fee. ‘‘SEC. 5000D. ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE HIGHWAY USER 13 FEE. 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is imposed a user fee on 15 any alternative fuel vehicle used in the United States dur- 16 ing the taxable year. 17 ‘‘(b) RATE OF FEE.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The fee imposed under 19 subsection (a) with respect to any alternative fuel 20 vehicle shall be the product of— 21 ‘‘(A) the average gallons of fuel consump- 22 tion per vehicle for motor vehicles in the same 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 343 IS category as such alternative fuel vehicle, multi- 1 plied by 2 ‘‘(B)(i) in the case of an alternative fuel 3 vehicle in a category of vehicles which are ordi- 4 narily powered by gasoline, the rate of tax 5 under section 4081(a)(2)(A)(i) in effect for the 6 first day of the calendar year, and 7 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an alternative fuel vehi- 8 cle in a category of vehicles which are ordinarily 9 powered by diesel fuel, the rate of tax under 10 section 4081(a)(2)(A)(iii) in effect for the first 11 day of the calendar year. 12 ‘‘(2) CATEGORIES OF VEHICLES.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 14 subsection, the Secretary, in consultation with 15 the Secretary of Transportation, shall— 16 ‘‘(i) establish categories of similar 17 motor vehicles for purposes of admin- 18 istering this section, and 19 ‘‘(ii) assign all motor vehicles that are 20 commonly sold in the United States to one 21 of the categories established under clause 22 (i). 23 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA.—In establishing the cat- 24 egories under subparagraph (A)(i) and assign- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 343 IS ing motor vehicles to such categories under sub- 1 paragraph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall con- 2 sider— 3 ‘‘(i) gross vehicle weight rating, 4 ‘‘(ii) the number of wheels of the vehi- 5 cle, 6 ‘‘(iii) the common use of the vehicle, 7 ‘‘(iv) whether comparable vehicles are 8 ordinarily powered by gasoline or diesel 9 fuel, and 10 ‘‘(v) such other factors as the Sec- 11 retary, in consultation with the Secretary 12 of Transportation, deems relevant. 13 ‘‘(3) AVERAGE GALLONS OF FUEL CONSUMP- 14 TION.—For purposes of this subsection, the average 15 gallons of fuel consumption for each category of 16 motor vehicles— 17 ‘‘(A) shall be determined by the Secretary, 18 in consultation with the Secretary of Transpor- 19 tation, taking into account only the motor vehi- 20 cles in such category that are not alternative 21 fuel vehicles, and 22 ‘‘(B) shall be updated annually. 23 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 24 ‘‘(1) ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 343 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘alternative 1 fuel vehicle’ means any plug-in electric vehicle, 2 any fuel cell electric vehicle, or any other alter- 3 native fuel vehicle. 4 ‘‘(B) PLUG-IN ELECTRIC VEHICLE.—The 5 term ‘plug-in electric vehicle’ means a motor ve- 6 hicle which is propelled to a significant extent 7 by an electric motor which draws electricity 8 from a battery which— 9 ‘‘(i) has a capacity of not less than 4 10 kilowatt hours, and 11 ‘‘(ii) is capable of being recharged 12 from an external source of electricity. 13 ‘‘(C) FUEL CELL ELECTRIC VEHICLE.— 14 The term ‘fuel cell electric vehicle’ means a 15 motor vehicle which is propelled to a significant 16 extent by an electric motor which draws elec- 17 tricity from hydrogen converted to electricity by 18 a fuel cell. 19 ‘‘(D) OTHER ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHI- 20 CLE.—The term ‘other alternative fuel vehicle’ 21 means a motor vehicle (other than a plug-in 22 electric vehicle or a fuel cell electric vehicle) 23 which is propelled to a significant extent by an 24 electric motor which draws power from any 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 343 IS source that is not subject to tax under section 1 4041 or 4081 (determined without regard to 2 any exemption for a specific use). 3 ‘‘(2) MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘motor vehi- 4 cle’ means any vehicle which is manufactured pri- 5 marily for use on public streets, roads, and highways 6 (not including a vehicle operated exclusively on a rail 7 or rails). 8 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY.—The fee imposed under this section 9 shall be paid by the person who owns the alternative fuel 10 vehicle. 11 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURE.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The fee imposed under this 13 section shall be paid upon notice and demand by the 14 Secretary, and shall be assessed and collected in the 15 same manner as taxes. Except as otherwise pro- 16 vided, any reference in this title to ‘tax’ imposed by 17 this title shall be deemed also to refer to the fee pro- 18 vided by this section. 19 ‘‘(2) TIME AT WHICH FEE COLLECTED.—Any 20 fee due under this section shall be included with a 21 taxpayer’s return under chapter 1 for the taxable 22 year.’’. 23 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 24 chapters for subtitle D of the Internal Revenue Code 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 343 IS of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing new item: 2 ‘‘CHAPTER 50A—ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE HIGHWAY USER FEE’’. (b) TRANSFERS OF FEES TO HIGHWAY TRUST 3 FUND.—Section 9503(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code 4 of 1986 is amended— 5 (1) by inserting ‘‘and fees’’ after ‘‘the taxes’’, 6 and 7 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 8 graph (D), by striking the period at the end of sub- 9 paragraph (E) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by insert- 10 ing after subparagraph (E) the following new sub- 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(F) section 5000D (relating to alternative 13 fuel vehicle highway user fee).’’. 14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 15 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 16 the date of the enactment of this section. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S343.IS S343 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS