House of Representatives Passes Legislation to Correct the LNG Tax Inequity

This week, the House of Representatives passed legislation to correct the LNG tax inequity by an overwhelming vote of 312-119. The measure was included in the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (H.R. 3038) legislation to fund and extend the authorization for America’s highway and transit programs through the end of 2015. The Senate, which must still consider H.R. 3038 or its own transportation funding legislation, is meeting this weekend in an effort to bring a long-term highway bill to the Senate floor next week. The authorization for federal transportation funding expires at the end of July, which necessitates the passage of an extension by the Congress. The Senate had previously voted to fix the LNG tax inequity as recently as 2014.  The legislation that passed the House of Representatives this week also defines a DGE to be 6.06 pounds of LNG. This change places LNG on parity with diesel fuel by taxing the fuels equally based on energy content, rather than volume. Currently, LNG is effectively taxed at a rate that is 70 percent higher than that of diesel, which creates an unfair penalty on those using domestically produced LNG in their trucking fleets.