Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2381 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 29, 2019 Mr. LAMALFA (for himself, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. PENCE, and Mr. CUELLAR) 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 repeal the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Modern, Clean, and 4 Safe Trucks Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 The Congress finds that— 7 (1) there is a 12-percent Federal retail excise 8 tax on certain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trail- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2381 IH ers, coupled with new regulatory mandates, signifi- 1 cantly increasing the cost of new heavy-duty trucks, 2 tractors, and trailers, and discourages the replace- 3 ment of older, less environmentally clean and less 4 fuel economical vehicles; 5 (2) this 12-percent Federal retail excise tax is 6 the highest percentage rate of any Federal ad valo- 7 rem excise tax; 8 (3) the Federal excise tax was first levied by 9 Congress in 1917 to help finance America’s involve- 10 ment in World War I; 11 (4) the 12-percent Federal retail excise tax rou- 12 tinely adds between $12,000 and $22,000 to the cost 13 of a heavy truck, tractor, or trailer; 14 (5) the average in-use, heavy truck is 9.6 years 15 old, close to the historical all-time high; 16 (6) the Environmental Protection Agency’s 17 model year 2002–2010 tailpipe emissions rules ac- 18 count for $20,000 of the average price of today’s 19 new heavy-duty trucks; 20 (7) according to the 2011 Environmental Pro- 21 tection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety 22 Administration Regulatory Impact Analysis entitled 23 ‘‘Final Rulemaking to Establish Greenhouse Gas 24 Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2381 IH for Medium and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles’’, 1 model year 2014–2018 EPA–Department of Trans- 2 portation fuel economy rules will add up to approxi- 3 mately $6,683 to the price of new heavy-duty trucks; 4 (8) according to the 2016 Environmental Pro- 5 tection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety 6 Administration Final Rule entitled ‘‘Greenhouse Gas 7 Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Me- 8 dium and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 9 2’’, model year 2021–2027 fuel economy rules will 10 add up to approximately $12,500 to the price of new 11 heavy-duty trucks; 12 (9) the $39,183 average per truck cost of these 13 regulatory mandates results in an additional $4,700 14 Federal excise tax, on average; 15 (10) since the Federal retail excise tax on cer- 16 tain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers is based 17 on annual sales, receipts from the tax deposited in 18 the Highway Trust Fund can vary greatly; 19 (11) Congress should consider a more reliable 20 and consistent revenue mechanism to protect the 21 Highway Trust Fund; and 22 (12) Congress should advance the deployment 23 of the most modern, clean, and safe trucks through 24 eliminating the Federal excise on trucks. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2381 IH SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXCISE TAX ON HEAVY TRUCKS AND 1 TRAILERS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of the Internal Rev- 3 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subchapter C 4 (and by striking the item relating to such subchapter from 5 the table of subchapters for such chapter). 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) Section 4072(c) of such Code is amended to 8 read as follows: 9 ‘‘(c) TIRES OF THE TYPE USED ON HIGHWAY VEHI- 10 CLES.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this part, 12 the term ‘tires of the type used on highway vehicles’ 13 means tires of the type used on— 14 ‘‘(A) motor vehicles which are highway ve- 15 hicles, or 16 ‘‘(B) vehicles of the type used in connec- 17 tion with motor vehicles which are highway ve- 18 hicles. 19 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR MOBILE MACHINERY.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such term shall not 21 include tires of a type used exclusively on mo- 22 bile machinery. 23 ‘‘(B) MOBILE MACHINERY.—For purposes 24 of subparagraph (A), the term ‘mobile machin- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2381 IH ery’ means any vehicle which consists of a chas- 1 sis— 2 ‘‘(i) to which there has been perma- 3 nently mounted (by welding, bolting, riv- 4 eting, or other means) machinery or equip- 5 ment to perform a construction, manufac- 6 turing, processing, farming, mining, drill- 7 ing, timbering, or similar operation if the 8 operation of the machinery or equipment is 9 unrelated to transportation on or off the 10 public highways, 11 ‘‘(ii) which has been specially designed 12 to serve only as a mobile carriage and 13 mount (and a power source, where applica- 14 ble) for the particular machinery or equip- 15 ment involved, whether or not such ma- 16 chinery or equipment is in operation, and 17 ‘‘(iii) which, by reason of such special 18 design, could not, without substantial 19 structural modification, be used as a com- 20 ponent of a vehicle designed to perform a 21 function of transporting any load other 22 than that particular machinery or equip- 23 ment or similar machinery or equipment 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2381 IH requiring such a specially designed chas- 1 sis.’’. 2 (2) Section 4221 of such Code is amended— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘4051 or’’ in subsection 4 (a), and 5 (B) by striking ‘‘and in the case of any ar- 6 ticle sold free of tax under section 4053(6),’’ in 7 subsection (c). 8 (3) Section 4222(d) of such Code is amended 9 by striking ‘‘4053(6),’’. 10 (4) Section 4293 of such Code is amended by 11 striking ‘‘section 4051,’’. 12 (5) Section 6416(b)(2) of such Code is amend- 13 ed by striking ‘‘or under section 4051’’. 14 (6) Section 6416(b) of such Code is amended 15 by striking paragraph (6). 16 (7) Section 9503(b)(1) of such Code is amend- 17 ed by striking subparagraph (B) and by redesig- 18 nating subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E) as subpara- 19 graphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively. 20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall apply to sales and installations on or 22 after the date of the introduction of this Act. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2381.IH H2381 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS