Truckers, advocates seek to roll back federal excise tax
“I'm the face of modern heavy trucking,” said Nancy Hunter Mycka.
The petite blond with a pretty smile and fresh manicure follows her declaration with a slight giggle to the contrast of what many people might envision with they think “big trucks.”
But she's very serious.
Trucking, the industry Mycka has lived and breathed since birth as part of the four-generation Hunter Truck family, is facing a near crisis.
And Mycka has stepped up to be one the nation's most vocal advocates. She's among those rallying to repeal a 12-percent federal excise tax (FET) that's driving new heavy duty truck costs up by tens of thousands of dollars, therefore, she said, lowering the possibility truckers will be on the highways in the newest, safest and cleanest equipment available.
Mycka's mission, which made her a Capitol Hill regular of late and earned her an invite to the White House, is garnering bipartisan support.
“This is an advocacy for our customers,” Mycka said. “Our drivers want to be safe and have nice trucks for driver retention.”
But it's a surprise even to Mycka, who “practically grew up in a garage” as granddaughter of Hunter Truck's founder Homer Hunter, that she's become a political lobbyist. Presently she is vice president of marketing and one of Hunter Truck's four owners.
“I love educating people about my industry,” said Mycka, noting that her political path started, in part, because she is a woman — one of the country's few female truck dealership owners.
In 2017, Mycka attended a gathering of women in the industry hosted by PACCAR, which owns Kenworth and Hunter Truck staple's Peterbilt. At the gathering, Mycka met Jodie Teuton, vice president of Kenworth of Louisiana and Southland Truck Leasing in Gray, La. and the first woman chair of the American Truck Dealers (ATD).
“Nancy and I had similar life paths, and we got to be friends,” said Teuton.Teuton said Mycka started championing against the FET “early on and with both feet … We all realize this isn't fair and we need to change the way we fund roads in this country.”The TaxMycka explained that the FET, currently the highest existing excise tax, raises the price of a truck about $22,000 to be paid right off the lot.Most truckers, Mycka said, need upgraded components, like a dump body, that increase the base truck cost, and therefore the tax can be $30,000, $40,000 or more, “Plus state tax and tire tax and fuel tax …” Mycka said.Buyers, under this structure, pay substantial money at the door, and still have not touched the price of the actual truck.Mycka said the added financial burden has had several negative impacts on the industry.First, it's all but eliminated from the landscape the one truck owner-operator. “Today, people need at least three to five trucks to stay in operation,” she said.Secondly, the extra cost has prompted many truckers to hold on to vehicles longer. Where truck turnover once averaged four to five years, it's now in the seven- to eight-year range, she said.“The trucks on the road are the oldest they ever have been,” Mycka said. “That's unfortunate because you cannot imagine how much technology has enhanced trucks in the past 10 years.”And finally, Mycka said, when emissions standard upgrades are looming, customers pre-buy to avoid the extra cost. In a sort of “double dipping” the truckers must pay the extra costs of the upgrades and then even more taxes because of the extra cost. By pre-buying existing trucks to avoid the hike, truckers ultimately do not buy the “cleanest” trucks available, Mycka said.
Teuton said rules implemented in 2008-2009, for example, upgraded equipment so that air leaving a truck's exhaust is cleaner than when it encountered the truck. That's a win for everyone.But the cost of the upgrades was a 35 percent increase by itself, and those new fees in turn caused an increase to the FET.“The tax disincentives the purchase of new, clean trucks — American made products,” Teuton said. “Today only one-third of the fleet on the road are “clean,” meaning post new emission. Two-thirds are pre-emission.”The back storyThe federal excise tax, initially implemented at 3 percent in 1917 to pay off World War I debt, has increased over the years under the guise of federal uses to make the highways safer.And yet, Mycka said, the tax, which presently supports the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), has exactly the opposite effect.Lobbyists like Mycka hope to see the tax repealed and replaced with an alternative method of funding.“This tax has caused our industry to be very cyclical. People buy all at once trying to beat emissions. So for three years the government receives a huge FET … Then it's crickets for years,” Mycka said. “Implementing a tax that is spread out over years of usage also will even out the money the government receives.”A proposal to repeal the tax has been introduced in Congress (H.B. 2381), and Mycka said the effort is gaining momentum.Teuton said lobbyists realize an outright repeal isn't likely so they're advocating an open-ended solution to find consensus on how to replace lost revenue “when the time comes.”
“We have 24 U.S. Congress people signed on,” Mycka said. “We are working on them all the time.”Mycka personally has hosted U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-15th) in Clearfield County. Former New Jersey Rep. Frank Alo LoBiondo, before he retired from Congress, visited a Hunter Truck dealership in Pennsville, N.J.U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-16th), who has visited Hunter Truck's Butler location, supports her advocacy. “Heavy-duty trucks are an engine for the American economy, moving merchandise and materials throughout our country and into the hands of U.S. consumers and producers.“The federal excise tax on new trucks discourages would-be truck buyers from purchasing modern, safer and more fuel-efficient trucks that are better for the environment. As our economy expands, we need more hard-working truckers.“A $20,000-plus tax bill on top of the cost of a new truck is a significant barrier to small businesses in Western Pennsylvania just trying to get their products to market,” Kelly said. “The FET is outdated, creates unnecessary disincentives, and should be immediately repealed.”In addition to inviting legislators to visit her business, Mycka has twice traveled to Capitol Hill as a representative of the American Truck Dealers (ATD), and once she went with the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA).Last fall, Mycka accepted an invite to the White House to attend a small business forum. President Donald Trump was the planned speaker, Mycka said, but was pulled away by the other matters. Instead Ivanka Trump and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney spoke.Mycka said she was impressed with Ivanka Trump's sincerity and empathy and wowed by Mulvaney's insights.Mycka describes herself as a registered Republican who chose a liberal college path, “I went to Wooster College,” she said. “I believe it's good to see both sides of every issue.”
Mycka said this is an especially pivotal time in trucking industry history as Internet purchases are causing the need for freight hauling, “to explode. The chair you are sitting on came in a truck. The computer you are using came in a truck … 84 percent of … well everything … is moved by a truck.”Additionally, Teuton said, trucking, symbolically represents a type of lifestyle that offered freedom and independence. But excise taxes, sometimes called “sin taxes” are traditionally reserved to deter behavior, like taxes on alcohol or tobacco. “Driving a truck isn't a sin. Everything we do in our economy is dependent on trucking,” Teuton said. “You don't want to price average people out of the American dream.”Like many industries, trucking is facing a work force shortage and presently, Mycka said, “a CDL can be worth more than a master's degree.”Still Hunter Truck, with 1,011 employees at 22 locations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey, is having a good sales year.Mycka said that's good news for every one, as the success of the trucking industry is a leading economic indicator.“The more trucks on the road, the healthier the economy,” Mycka said.
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