The Portland Bureau of Transportation has proposed a Heavy Vehicle Use Tax that would generate $2.5 million a year for road maintenance.
By taxing 2.8 percent of the weight-mile fee trucking outfits pay the state for their abuse of state roads, the city thinks it can pull in the $2.5 million a year it says is heavy trucks’ fair share of road repair. Taken in tandem with the gas tax on the ballot next month, the plan could result in $18.5 million a year targeted to city streets in the next four years—a fraction of Portland’s estimated need for road repairs, but also the most progress Portland’s seen toward corralling more cash for transportation in a decade or more.
Even if the gas tax fails, PBOT says, the business tax plan will move forward. Truckers have said they oppose it.
(READ MORE: Portland Mercury)
Read the tax proposal here.
