II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 694 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax 

on heavy trucks and trailers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2023 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal 

the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modern, Clean, and 

5 Safe Trucks Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the 12-percent Federal retail excise tax on 

9 certain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers, cou10 pled with new regulatory mandates, significantly inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Mar 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S694.IS S694

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1 creases the cost of new heavy-duty trucks, tractors, 

2 and trailers and discourages the replacement of 

3 older, less environmentally clean and less fuel eco4 nomical vehicles; 

5 (2) this 12-percent Federal retail excise tax is 

6 the highest percentage rate of any Federal ad valo7 rem excise tax; 

8 (3) the Federal excise tax was first levied by 

9 Congress in 1917 to help finance America’s involve10 ment in World War I; 

11 (4) the 12-percent Federal retail excise tax rou12 tinely adds between $12,000 and $22,000 to the cost 

13 of a new heavy truck, tractor, or trailer; 

14 (5) nearly half of the Class 8 trucks on the 

15 road are over 10 years old and lack a decade of envi16 ronmental and safety technological advancements; 

17 (6) from 2007 to 2020, new trucks have re18 duced carbon dioxide emissions by 202,000,000 tons, 

19 nitrogen oxide emissions by 27,000,000 tons, and 

20 saved 20,000,000,000 gallons of diesel and 

21 472,000,000 barrels of crude oil; 

22 (7) an owner of a single Class 8 truck powered 

23 by the latest clean diesel engine can expect to save 

24 about 2,200 gallons of fuel each year compared to 

25 previous generations of technology; 


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1 (8) since the late 1990s, cleaner fuel and ad2 vanced engines have combined to reduce nitrogen 

3 oxide (NOx) emissions and particulate matter (PM) 

4 emissions by 98 percent; 

5 (9) the Federal excise tax disproportionately 

6 impacts electric and alternative-fueled trucks, which 

7 currently have a higher up front cost, at a time 

8 when adoption of these technologies is needed to ac9 celerate the transition to zero emission vehicles and 

10 the reduction of carbon pollution from transpor11 tation; 

12 (10) In 2020, there were approximately 

13 1,300,000 United States manufacturing, supplier, 

14 dealership, and heavy-duty trucking and trailer re15 lated jobs; 

16 (11) since the Federal retail excise tax on cer17 tain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers is based 

18 on annual sales, receipts from the tax deposited in 

19 the Highway Trust Fund can vary greatly; 

20 (12) Congress should consider a more reliable 

21 and consistent revenue mechanism to fund the High22 way Trust Fund; 

23 (13) Congress should advance the deployment 

24 of the most modern, clean, and safe trucks through 

25 eliminating the Federal excise tax on trucks; and 


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1 (14) repealing the Federal excise tax would re2 sult in the replacement of older internal combustion 

3 engine trucks with new heavy duty trucks that em4 ploy the latest safety and environmental tech5 nologies. 

6 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXCISE TAX ON HEAVY TRUCKS AND 

7 TRAILERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subchapter C 

10 (and by striking the item relating to such subchapter from 

11 the table of subchapters for such chapter). 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

13 (1) Section 4072(c) of such Code is amended to 

14 read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(c) TIRES OF THE TYPE USED ON HIGHWAY VEHI16 CLES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this part, 

18 the term ‘tires of the type used on highway vehicles’ 

19 means tires of the type used on— 

20 ‘‘(A) motor vehicles which are highway ve21 hicles, or 

22 ‘‘(B) vehicles of the type used in connec23 tion with motor vehicles which are highway ve24 hicles. 

25 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR MOBILE MACHINERY.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such term shall not 

2 include tires of a type used exclusively on mo3 bile machinery. 

4 ‘‘(B) MOBILE MACHINERY.—For purposes 

5 of subparagraph (A), the term ‘mobile machin6 ery’ means any vehicle which consists of a chas7 sis— 

8 ‘‘(i) to which there has been perma9 nently mounted (by welding, bolting, riv10 eting, or other means) machinery or equip11 ment to perform a construction, manufac12 turing, processing, farming, mining, drill13 ing, timbering, or similar operation if the 

14 operation of the machinery or equipment is 

15 unrelated to transportation on or off the 

16 public highways, 

17 ‘‘(ii) which has been specially designed 

18 to serve only as a mobile carriage and 

19 mount (and a power source, where applica20 ble) for the particular machinery or equip21 ment involved, whether or not such ma22 chinery or equipment is in operation, and 

23 ‘‘(iii) which, by reason of such special 

24 design, could not, without substantial 

25 structural modification, be used as a comVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Mar 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S694.IS S694

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1 ponent of a vehicle designed to perform a 

2 function of transporting any load other 

3 than that particular machinery or equip4 ment or similar machinery or equipment 

5 requiring such a specially designed chas6 sis.’’. 

7 (2) Section 4221 of such Code is amended— 

8 (A) in subsection (a)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘(or under subchapter 

10 C of chapter 31 on the first retail sale)’’, 

11 and 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘4051 or’’, 

13 (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘and in 

14 the case of any article sold free of tax under 

15 section 4053(6),’’, and 

16 (C) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘, 

17 and, in the case of the taxes imposed by sub18 chapter C of chapter 31, includes the retailer 

19 with respect to the first retail sale’’. 

20 (3) Section 4222(d) of such Code is amended 

21 by striking ‘‘4053(6),’’. 

22 (4) Section 4293 of such Code is amended by 

23 striking ‘‘section 4051,’’. 


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1 (5) Section 4483(g) of such Code is amended 

2 by striking ‘‘section 4053(8)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

3 4072(c)(2)’’. 

4 (6) Section 6416(b)(2) of such Code is amend5 ed by striking ‘‘or under section 4051’’. 

6 (7) Section 6416(b) of such Code is amended 

7 by striking paragraph (6). 

8 (8) Section 9503(b)(1) of such Code is amend9 ed by striking subparagraph (B) and by redesig10 nating subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E) as subpara11 graphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively. 

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall apply to sales and installations on or 

14 after the date of the introduction of this Act. 

Æ 


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