OOIDA Call to Action – South Dakota members
Sept. 18, 2009

Heads up, South Dakota truckers! Your state lawmakers want to hear from YOU about what you’re willing to pay to help build and maintain roadways in the state.

With South Dakota in need of more than $240 million a year in additional funding for roads, the Joint Transportation Committee is looking at multiple options to help bridge the gap.

One proposal being discussed by the interim panel would increase the state’s fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon. Boosting the current rate from 22 cents per gallon to 32 cents would generate $57 million.

Other options being floated include increasing the excise tax on vehicles sales by 1 percent to raise $19 million and doubling the annual vehicle registration fee to raise $62 million.

As proposed, personal vehicles weighing 2,000 pounds would pay $60 while commercial vehicles tipping the scales at 80,000 pounds would have to fork over nearly $3,000.

Committee members want to get feedback from residents on the options before meeting again in mid October. At that time, the panel will finalize their recommendations of increases for consideration during the 2010 regular session.

Contact information for members of the Joint Transportation Committee members is available here.