Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee signed legislation in late March that caps the sales tax on the purchase of all large trucks and semi-trailers, at $468 and $51, respectively. The legislation took effect on May 1. the new Arkansas sales tax cap will apply to all Class 5-8 trucks and semi-trailers, including equipment licensed as farm or natural resources vehicles.
Under the new law, the state sales tax, currently at 5.125 percent, will be collected on the first $9,150 of a Class 5-8 truck’s purchase price and on the first $1,000 of the purchase price of a semi-trailer.
Arkansas Trucking Association President Lane Kidd noted that the purchaser of a new $100,000 tractor will pay $468 rather than $5,150 in state sales tax under the previous law. The Arkansas group pushed for reform in the sales tax law after Oklahoma tightened truck registration rules that had previously allowed hundreds of small Arkansas carriers to register in that state through third-party agents.
