01/25/07 Opposition voiced to container tax

Washington Ag January 25, 2007 A Senate Transportation hearing in Olympia Wednesday drew plenty of opposition to Senate Bill 5207. That bill would impose a tax on shipping containers which would fund improvements of freight rail systems and state highways that function as freight corridors. The fee would be 50-dollars per 20-foot equivalent but for most containers that would equate to a 100 dollar tax. The Washington Farm Bureau says agricultural producers who export their products using cargo shipping containers would likely see such a fee passed on to them and the Farm Bureau is part of coalition working to defeat Senate Bill 5207. The only direct agricultural interest that got to testify at yesterday's hearing was Jim Wilcox of Wilcox Farm. Wilcox: "This tax on containers because we do so much business in Alaska in terms of shipping milk and eggs up there, will add to our costs about 200-thousand dollars a year." Others speaking in opposition included ports, labor unions and railroads. Though they all admitted the issue of freight congestion needs to be solved, they didn't see the container tax as the solution. And Senate Transportation Committee Chair and bill co-sponsor Mary Margaret Haugen had this comment at the end of the hearing. Haugen: "We realize that this container tax is not popular but the issue will not go away as far as the needs concerned. I'm Bob Hoff.