Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
1 NW OOIDA Drive, Grain Valley, MO  64029
Web site: www.ooida.com

Contact: Norita Taylor, norita_taylor@ooida.com 
Headquarters: (800) 444-5791

(Grain Valley, MO, Jan. 17, 2008) --  The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) reacted to today’s hearing at the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which focused on the recent report from the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission.

“We appreciate the Commission’s strong emphasis on reform,” said Todd Spencer, Executive Vice President of OOIDA. “But, we adamantly believe that Congress must make fundamental changes in how highway tax dollars are currently being spent before they consider increasing fuel taxes or other highway user fees.”

The association admits that runaway earmarks are part of the nation’s problem, but reform efforts should also focus on where other highway tax dollars are spent. For example, many federal agencies and programs are funded by those tax dollars.

“Some of those agencies and programs should be streamlined or done away with, and others should be funded by other means,” said Spencer.

“Simply put, highway tax dollars should be spent on highways.”

OOIDA also appreciates the Commission’s recommendations on limiting tolling and reigning in highway privatization.

“Increased tolling and privatization will no doubt have a crippling effect on the trucking industry and on the nation’s economy,” adds Spencer.

He noted that truckers also pay significant amounts in highway user taxes in the form of registration fees, state fuel taxes, tolls, highway usage fees, and excise taxes specific to trucking equipment.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, while commercial trucks make up just 3 percent of registered vehicles and just 7 percent of vehicle miles traveled in the United States, their operators account for nearly 40 percent of the tax dollars going into the federal Highway Trust Fund.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more 159,000 members nationwide, with more than 4,600 members in New Jersey. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, MO, area.