MINNEAPOLIS — The American trucking industry will strongly oppose a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) tax proposal.

Historically, VMTs have proven costly to administer, enforce, and to comply with, American Trucking Associations Vice President Bob Pitcher said today at the Symposium on Mileage-Based User Fees in Minneapolis.

Pitcher said the industry regards a VMT tax as a weight-distance tax (WDT). More than 20 states have already repealed WDTs as outdated and ineffective. All but four states currently rely on a combination of truck registration fees and fuel taxes as the most efficient, cost-effective way to raise money to build and repair roads, he said.

"Imagine the bureaucracy needed to oversee and collect VMT fees from millions of highway users," Pitcher said. "Keeping track of a gallon of fuel, a valuable, tangible product, is far easier than keeping track of a mile traveled."

The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission last year recommended that the U.S. shift to a mileage-based usage fee by 2020. Both the ATA and the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association were quick to voice their opposition.

The federal fuel tax collected at the pump — 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel — "has long been the most equitable, low-cost method of funding highway infrastructure," says Pitcher.

" Finding an alternative to the federal tax on gasoline is a far more urgent need than finding an alternative to the fuel tax on diesel. Currently there is no readily available alternative to diesel fuel for over-the-road trucks, so diesel consumption remains relatively stable."

Until alternatives exist, the traditional system of highway funding through registration fees and fuel taxes remains the most efficient way to fund critical highway projects, says ATA.