Senate Transportation hears testimony on S.46 to exempt logging trucks and repair parts from sales and use taxes

The Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 11 heard testimony on S.46, which would exempt new and used trucks, trailers, service vehicles and repair parts used in logging and forest trucking from Vermont sales and purchase-and-use taxes. Supporters told the committee the change would help small, rural employers respond to rising equipment costs and compete with neighboring states.

Dana Duran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, told the committee the bill "exempts new or used trucks, trailers, service vehicles, pickups that are used specifically in logging and trucking and forest trucking business from purchase and use tax" and would also exempt "repair parts that are used for those same vehicles." Duran said the measure aims to lower costs for a sector that is both commercially important and tied to climate policy by encouraging use of wood products.

Sam Lincoln, owner-operator of a mechanized timber-harvesting business in Randolph Center and a board member of the Professional Logging Contractors group, described rising costs in the industry. Lincoln said heavier-duty tractors that once cost about $125,000 now run $300,000–$350,000 and that adding a trailer can make the total investment about $450,000. He noted a 12% federal excise tax on trucking purchases and said Vermont currently charges an 18% sales tax on these purchases, a combination he described as a disincentive to buy newer, lower-emissions equipment.

Mikaela Kilburn, owner of Kilburn Transport in Eden, said her company started with one truck in 2014 and now operates nine tractors, one dump truck and 10 trailers with seven full-time employees. "The cost of the trucks just, you know, tax alone is is a killer for us," Kilburn said, adding that the sales tax makes it harder for small operators to replace aging equipment that would be safer and better for the environment.

Testimony also noted competitive differences with neighboring states: speakers said New York currently exempts tractors, trailers and repair parts from sales tax, New Hampshire has no sales tax, and Maine has considered similar exemptions. Witnesses described prior 2017–18 legislation that exempted certain logging equipment from sales and use tax and recalled a Joint Fiscal Office estimate for that earlier change of roughly under $100,000.

Committee members asked procedural and scope questions: how broadly "motor vehicles" and "motor trucks" would be defined, whether vehicles owned personally but used occasionally for work would qualify, and what the fiscal impact on state revenues might be. Witnesses said businesses sometimes register trailers out of state (for example, in Maine) to avoid Vermont taxes. The chair, Senator Westman, said the committee would need fiscal numbers before advancing the bill and that the item would likely be revisited and could go to the Senate Committee on Finance for analysis.

No formal vote was taken at the hearing. Committee members and witnesses agreed more detailed fiscal analysis and statutory drafting would be needed before the Legislature could act on S.46.