Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1839 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2019 Mr. GARDNER 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 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 ers, coupled with new regulatory mandates, signifi- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1839 IS cantly increasing the cost of new heavy-duty trucks, 1 tractors, and trailers, and discouraging the replace- 2 ment of older, less environmentally clean and less 3 fuel economical vehicles; 4 (2) this 12-percent Federal retail excise tax is 5 the highest percentage rate of any Federal ad valo- 6 rem excise tax; 7 (3) the Federal excise tax was first levied by 8 Congress in 1917 to help finance America’s involve- 9 ment in World War I; 10 (4) the 12-percent Federal retail excise tax rou- 11 tinely adds between $12,000 and $22,000 to the cost 12 of a heavy truck, tractor, or trailer; 13 (5) the average in-use, heavy truck is 9.6 years 14 old, close to the historical all-time high; 15 (6) the Environmental Protection Agency’s 16 model year 2002–2010 tailpipe emissions rules ac- 17 count for $20,000 of the average price of today’s 18 new heavy-duty trucks; 19 (7) according to the 2011 Environmental Pro- 20 tection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety 21 Administration Regulatory Impact Analysis entitled 22 ‘‘Final Rulemaking to Establish Greenhouse Gas 23 Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards 24 for Medium and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles’’, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1839 IS model year 2014–2018 EPA-Department of Trans- 1 portation fuel economy rules will add up to approxi- 2 mately $6,683 to the price of new heavy-duty trucks; 3 (8) according to the 2016 Environmental Pro- 4 tection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety 5 Administration Final Rule entitled ‘‘Greenhouse Gas 6 Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Me- 7 dium and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 8 2’’, model year 2021–2027 fuel economy rules will 9 add up to approximately $12,500 to the price of new 10 heavy-duty trucks; 11 (9) the $39,183 average per truck cost of these 12 regulatory mandates results in an additional $4,700 13 Federal excise tax, on average; and 14 (10) since the Federal retail excise tax on cer- 15 tain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers is based 16 on annual sales, receipts from the tax deposited in 17 the Highway Trust Fund can vary greatly. 18 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXCISE TAX ON HEAVY TRUCKS AND 19 TRAILERS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of the Internal Rev- 21 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subchapter C 22 (and by striking the item relating to such subchapter from 23 the table of subchapters for such chapter). 24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1839 IS (1) Section 4072(c) of such Code is amended to 1 read as follows: 2 ‘‘(c) TIRES OF THE TYPE USED ON HIGHWAY VEHI- 3 CLES.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this part, 5 the term ‘tires of the type used on highway vehicles’ 6 means tires of the type used on— 7 ‘‘(A) motor vehicles which are highway ve- 8 hicles, or 9 ‘‘(B) vehicles of the type used in connec- 10 tion with motor vehicles which are highway ve- 11 hicles. 12 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR MOBILE MACHINERY.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such term shall not 14 include tires of a type used exclusively on mo- 15 bile machinery. 16 ‘‘(B) MOBILE MACHINERY.—For purposes 17 of subparagraph (A), the term ‘mobile machin- 18 ery’ means any vehicle which consists of a chas- 19 sis— 20 ‘‘(i) to which there has been perma- 21 nently mounted (by welding, bolting, riv- 22 eting, or other means) machinery or equip- 23 ment to perform a construction, manufac- 24 turing, processing, farming, mining, drill- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1839 IS ing, timbering, or similar operation if the 1 operation of the machinery or equipment is 2 unrelated to transportation on or off the 3 public highways, 4 ‘‘(ii) which has been specially designed 5 to serve only as a mobile carriage and 6 mount (and a power source, where applica- 7 ble) for the particular machinery or equip- 8 ment involved, whether or not such ma- 9 chinery or equipment is in operation, and 10 ‘‘(iii) which, by reason of such special 11 design, could not, without substantial 12 structural modification, be used as a com- 13 ponent of a vehicle designed to perform a 14 function of transporting any load other 15 than that particular machinery or equip- 16 ment or similar machinery or equipment 17 requiring such a specially designed chas- 18 sis.’’. 19 (2) Section 4221 of such Code is amended— 20 (A) in subsection (a)— 21 (i) by striking ‘‘(or under subchapter 22 C of chapter 31 on the first retail sale)’’, 23 and 24 (ii) by striking ‘‘4051 or’’, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1839 IS (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘and in 1 the case of any article sold free of tax under 2 section 4053(6),’’, and 3 (C) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘, 4 and, in the case of the taxes imposed by sub- 5 chapter C of chapter 31, includes the retailer 6 with respect to the first retail sale’’. 7 (3) Section 4222(d) of such Code is amended 8 by striking ‘‘4053(6),’’. 9 (4) Section 4293 of such Code is amended by 10 striking ‘‘section 4051,’’. 11 (5) Section 4483(g) of such Code is amended 12 by striking ‘‘section 4053(8)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 13 4072(c)(2)’’. 14 (6) Section 6416(b)(2) of such Code is amend- 15 ed by striking ‘‘or under section 4051’’. 16 (7) Section 6416(b) of such Code is amended 17 by striking paragraph (6). 18 (8) Section 9503(b)(1) of such Code is amend- 19 ed by striking subparagraph (B) and by redesig- 20 nating subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E) as subpara- 21 graphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1839 IS (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to sales and installations on or 2 after the date of the introduction of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1839.IS S1839 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS