The National Association of Truck Stop Owners is “strongly opposed” to new tolls on highways and bridges, whether added to new or to existing lanes, its board has decided.
NATSO opposes tolls even if the new fees are for purposes of creating new roads and bridges. Tolls are double taxation for truckers, who already pay 40 percent of highway users’ fees, NATSO said. Also, toll construction and maintenance cost far more than the current federal fuel tax system can provide, NATSO said.
The association supports the continued use of federal fuel taxes as the main source of highway funding. “The highway user fees that have been deposited into the Highway Trust Fund provide a fair, user-pays system for funding highway construction,” NATSO said in its Nov. 6 statement.
The association backs increases in federal fuel taxes, but only if imposed for the sole purpose of funding roadway and bridge maintenance and construction. It also wants government officials to focus highway funding on freight corridors.
It does not support the indexing of motor fuel taxes and the diversion of state and federal highway user fees to non-transportation purposes.
