Thanks to ENS Resources for sending along this news:
(Politico) MT EXCLUSIVE — Harbor tax overhaul: Today Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell introduce a bill (text: http://1.usa.gov/16eZfDG) to replace the harbor maintenance tax with a “maritime goods movement user fee” that would end companies skirting the U.S. tax and would double the money for ports. “Currently, shippers can avoid paying the tax — which important ports nationwide rely on — by shipping goods through other ports in Canada and Mexico and then transporting those goods into our country via truck and rail,” a summary (http://1.usa.gov/151Syof) of the bill says. “This reduces the funds available to keep American ports in operating condition.” The bill comes at an interesting time — the House’s WRRDA bill seems to be fast-tracked, raising the prospects of a fall conference sure to feature lots of port talk.
