The Senate Finance Committee last week approved atax title mark up to the federal surface transportation reauthorization bill that includes a provision to extend the school bus federal fuel tax exemption. The bill moves to the Senate floor.
The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) said a repeal of the school bus and motorcoach exemption was considered in committee, but a grassroots effort that consisted of letters and phone calls to committee members helped ensure the provision was not included in the Feb. 7 mark up. NSTA has been fighting the repeal for the past couple of years as Congress has working toward reauthorizing the sufrace transportation bill.
NSTA said the exemption was also not subject to any amendments or offered as an offset for other amendments that proposed to change the bill’s revenue provisions. NSTA added that the end of an exemption would “have been tantamount to imposing a tax increase on private school bus transportation providers.”
“NSTA appreciates Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) for their leadership in helping to ensure this harmful provision was not included in the bill,” the association said in a statement. “We salute their efforts to bringing forth a fair and balanced surface transportation reauthorization bill. NSTA will continue to advocate for preservation of the school bus fuel tax exemption as the bill moves to the Senate floor.”
The two-year reauthorization bill funds highway, transit and motor carrier safety programs.
In 2010, the IRS dismissed a challenge it made to fuel tax exemptions for small school buses. NSTA persuaded several congressional members to petition Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner to write a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
