WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) led 29 lawmakers in calling on Congressional leadership to support America’s trucking industry and their workers as Congress continues to work on comprehensive infrastructure legislation.

To support the trucking industry, the lawmakers called on leadership to suspend the 12% federal excise tax (FET) on the purchase of new heavy-duty trucks and trailers. The FET is the highest percentage excise tax Congress levies, and regularly adds more than $20,000 to the price of a new truck or trailer. These costs pose a barrier to modernizing America’s truck fleet and repealing the FET would help turnover the existing truck fleet to replace older trucks with newer trucks that are cleaner, safer and more fuel efficient.

“As Congress considers comprehensive infrastructure legislation, we support Congress repealing the 12% federal excise tax (FET) on heavy-duty trucks and replacing it with an equitable funding mechanism for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF),” the lawmakers wrote. “Repealing the FET and replacing it with a consistent revenue source, relevant to today’s economy, will help the trucking industry and the 1.3 million U.S. jobs it supports, provide environmental benefits by replacing older trucks with more efficient trucks, and speed the modernization of America’s aging truck fleet.”