The tax reform package unveiled on Wednesday by House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp includes an industry-backed plan for higher fuel taxes to pay for improvements to U.S. inland locks, dams and waterways. The Waterways Council says the package would increase “by 6 cents per-gallon, the 20-cent-per-gallon user fee paid for by inland waterways towboat operators into the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF). The IWTF funds new construction and major rehabilitation of priority navigation projects on the nation’s inland waterways system.”
The Waterways Council describes its plan in a statement that thanks Camp for including the plan in his bill.
Agri-Pulse says the tax package is considered to have little chance of passage this year due to the approaching mid-term elections and the vast scope of the bill.