4 Oregon Trucking Association, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch FROM THE PRESIDENT Jana Jarvis OTA President/CEO MOST OF YOU reading this column will be aware that the Oregon Trucking Association, along with three of our current members, have sued the state of Oregon over the unjust rate of taxation applied to the heavy vehicle industry. You may wonder why we found this lawsuit necessary—or maybe why we waited so long to file it. You undoubtedly wonder how this got so far off track…and perhaps why the association didn’t address this earlier. And all of those would be legitimate concerns without a clear understanding of how trucking taxes are applied in Oregon. For decades, Oregon has clung to an antiquated system of taxation that every other state left years ago. The weight-mile tax requires an accounting of miles driven in this state with a multiplier of the weight and axle configuration of the truck. The historical rationale for this system of taxation is that it is the fairest system…but it is cumbersome and expensive for both the carrier and the agency collecting the taxes. And recently it has proven to be unfair as well. With the transportation package passed in the 2017 legislative session, these escalating rates were established in statute over an eight-year period without the calculus for how ODOT would be spending those funds. During that time, more and more of ODOT’s revenue has gone to projects that are attributable to light vehicles (cars) and not freight projects that would benefit the trucking industry. Every two years, the state evaluates if the revenue that ODOT is collecting is fairly apportioned to “cars and trucks” and for years this calculation fell into a spread that was within one or two percent and determined to be equitable. However, the past three reports over the past six years have shown growing signs of inequity. The most recent report released toward the end of the long session last year showed that heavy vehicles were overpaying in excess of 32.4 percent and light vehicles were underpaying some 12 percent. The legislature has a constitutional obligation to fix this…but they have not done so. Leadership indicates that they will fix it when they pass a new transportation package next year—but by then the industry will have overpaid in excess of a half billion dollars. Only the legislature can correct this. And while they indicate they understand this inequity, there is no current plan or will to fix it. For that reason, OTA’s Board of Directors determined last fall that the association would need to sue the state asking that this problem be addressed as well as asking for damages. That lawsuit was filed last month, and you saw my letter informing you of this action. And hopefully, you understood that your association was out there protecting your interests! There are certainly lots of reasons to be an OTA member. If you have ever received an unsatisfactory safety rating, you may have reached out to us to help provide training and audits to correct that. Maybe you decided to come to one of our events and learned from the sessions and the attendees a new strategy that helped you grow your business. Perhaps you have benefited from one of our many programs—such as our Workers’ Compensation program through SAIF or our drug testing program for your employees that saved you money and made membership a profitable investment. Whatever helped you decide to become an OTA member is what you can promote to those that are not a part of the OTA family. And with the biggest battle on our hands in years, there is no time like the present to help us grow the organization! In the coming months, we will need our collective effort to fix this issue of unfairness in our taxation. There are hundreds of trucking companies that benefit from the advocacy that OTA provides, but we don’t have them to help us show up at the Capitol or answer our Calls to Action. We don’t have them to help us establish relationships with our policymakers, or write letters, or show up at district events to meet with representatives and senators. We need a bigger trucking army—and we need your help to make that happen! Over the coming months, there will be several opportunities for you to get involved in OTA’s advocacy efforts. While our weight-mile tax issue is huge, it isn’t the only issue that OTA is involved in on your behalf. We are in the Capitol every day advocating on your behalf, but we are also THE VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP
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