I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1440 

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

on heavy trucks and trailers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2023 

Mr. LAMALFA (for himself, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. LAHOOD, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

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, couVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Mar 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1440.IH H1440

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1 pled with new regulatory mandates, significantly in2 creases the cost of new heavy-duty trucks, tractors, 

3 and trailers and discourages the replacement of 

4 older, less environmentally clean and less fuel eco5 nomical vehicles; 

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

7 the highest percentage rate of any Federal ad valo8 rem excise tax; 

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

10 Congress in 1917 to help finance America’s involve11 ment in World War I; 

12 (4) the 12-percent Federal retail excise tax rou13 tinely adds between $12,000 and $22,000 to the cost 

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

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

16 road are over 10 years old and lack a decade of envi17 ronmental and safety technological advancements; 

18 (6) from 2007 to 2020, new trucks have re19 duced carbon dioxide emissions by 202,000,000 tons, 

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

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

22 472,000,000 barrels of crude oil; 

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

24 by the latest clean diesel engine can expect to save 


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

2 previous generations of technology; 

3 (8) since the late 1990s, cleaner fuel and ad4 vanced engines have combined to reduce nitrogen 

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

6 emissions by 98 percent; 

7 (9) the Federal excise tax disproportionately 

8 impacts electric and alternative-fueled trucks, which 

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

10 when adoption of these technologies is needed to ac11 celerate the transition to zero emission vehicles and 

12 the reduction of carbon pollution from transpor13 tation; 

14 (10) in 2020, there were approximately 

15 1,300,000 United States manufacturing, supplier, 

16 dealership, and heavy-duty trucking and trailer re17 lated jobs; 

18 (11) since the Federal retail excise tax on cer19 tain new heavy trucks, tractors, and trailers is based 

20 on annual sales, receipts from the tax deposited in 

21 the Highway Trust Fund can vary greatly; 

22 (12) Congress should consider a more reliable 

23 and consistent revenue mechanism to fund the High24 way Trust Fund; 


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1 (13) Congress should advance the deployment 

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

3 eliminating the Federal excise tax on trucks; and 

4 (14) repealing the Federal excise tax would re5 sult in the replacement of older internal combustion 

6 engine trucks with new heavy duty trucks that em7 ploy the latest safety and environmental tech8 nologies. 

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

10 TRAILERS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 31 of the Internal Rev12 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subchapter C 

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

14 the table of subchapters for such chapter). 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

17 read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(c) TIRES OF THE TYPE USED ON HIGHWAY VEHI19 CLES.— 

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

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

22 means tires of the type used on— 

23 ‘‘(A) motor vehicles which are highway ve24 hicles, or 


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1 ‘‘(B) vehicles of the type used in connec2 tion with motor vehicles which are highway ve3 hicles. 

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

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

6 include tires of a type used exclusively on mo7 bile machinery. 

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

9 of subparagraph (A), the term ‘mobile machin10 ery’ means any vehicle which consists of a chas11 sis— 

12 ‘‘(i) to which there has been perma13 nently mounted (by welding, bolting, riv14 eting, or other means) machinery or equip15 ment to perform a construction, manufac16 turing, processing, farming, mining, drill17 ing, timbering, or similar operation if the 

18 operation of the machinery or equipment is 

19 unrelated to transportation on or off the 

20 public highways, 

21 ‘‘(ii) which has been specially designed 

22 to serve only as a mobile carriage and 

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1 ment involved, whether or not such ma2 chinery or equipment is in operation, and 

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

4 design, could not, without substantial 

5 structural modification, be used as a com6 ponent of a vehicle designed to perform a 

7 function of transporting any load other 

8 than that particular machinery or equip9 ment or similar machinery or equipment 

10 requiring such a specially designed chas11 sis.’’. 

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

13 (A) in subsection (a)— 

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

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

16 and 

17 (ii) by striking ‘‘4051 or’’, 

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

19 the case of any article sold free of tax under 

20 section 4053(6),’’, and 

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

22 and, in the case of the taxes imposed by sub23 chapter C of chapter 31, includes the retailer 

24 with respect to the first retail sale’’. 


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

2 by striking ‘‘4053(6),’’. 

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

4 striking ‘‘section 4051,’’. 

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

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

7 4072(c)(2)’’. 

8 (6) Section 6416(b)(2) of such Code is amend9 ed by striking ‘‘or under section 4051’’. 

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

11 by striking paragraph (6). 

12 (8) Section 9503(b)(1) of such Code is amend13 ed by striking subparagraph (B) and by redesig14 nating subparagraphs (C), (D), and (E) as subpara15 graphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively. 

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

17 this section shall apply to sales and installations on or 

18 after the date of the introduction of this Act. 

Æ 


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