Trucking industry pays
its fair share of taxes

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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This is in response to the letter by Victor Lister of Athens in the April 9 Morning Sentinel.

I have re-read this letter numerous times and I just can't quite understand what Lister is trying to get at. But I also suspect that Lister does not understand the trucking industry.

For one thing, just about every item imaginable in the United States is delivered in some way shape or form by a truck, be it an 18-wheel tractor-trailer or down to the size of a delivery van.

Each tractor-trailer truck that is actively working on the roads of America pays a heavy road use tax to the federal government each year. That is to pay for the wear and tear that these trucks do to the roadways. I have been an owner-operator in the past, and the last time I paid this tax it was close to $500 per truck. That was in 2003, and I'm sure the cost has risen since then.

The trucking industry is extremely monitored so that trucks aren't "riding rough shod" as Lister put it.

I think Lister should do a minimal amount of homework before he criticizes something.

Laura Hopkins

East Vassalboro