American Trucking Associations
The American Trucking Associations submits the attached comments for
the consideration of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax
Reform. We thank you for the opportunity to provide them.
Robert C. Pitcher
Vice President, State Laws
ATA
Alexandria, VA
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American Trucking Associations
COMMENTS TO
THE PRESIDENT’S ADVISORY PANEL
ON FEDERAL TAX REFORM
BY THE
AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS
March 31, 2005
Robert C. Pitcher
Vice President, State Laws
American Trucking Associations
2200 Mill Road
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone 703-838-7939
Email: bpitcher@trucking.org
American Trucking Associations
March 31, 2005
The Honorable Connie Mack
Chairman
The President’s Advisory Panel on
Federal Tax Reform
1440 New York Avenue, N.W.
Suite 2100
Washington, DC 20220
By email: comments@taxreformpanel.gov
Dear Senator Mack:
These comments are made in response to the call for comments issued February
16, 2005, by the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, specifically to the
first question posed by the Panel; that is, what are examples of:
Headaches, unnecessary complexity, and burdens that taxpayers – both
individuals and businesses – face because of the existing system.
Our comments also address indirectly the Panel’s second and third questions, which
request “aspects of the tax system that are unfair,” and “examples of how the tax code
distorts important business or personal decisions.”
ATA is the national trade association of the interstate trucking industry. It is a
united federation of motor carriers, 50 state trucking associations, and national trucking
conferences created to promote and protect the interests of the trucking industry. ATA's
direct dues-paying membership includes more than 2,000 trucking companies and
industry suppliers of truck equipment and services. Directly and through its affiliated
organizations, ATA represents over 34,000 companies of every size, type, and class of
motor carrier operation in the country.
American Trucking Associations
Page 2
Senator Connie Mack III
March 31, 2005
Since the interstate trucking industry comprises more than half a million motor
carriers, some 96% of which operate 20 trucks or fewer, a great many of ATA’s members
are small businesses rather than large corporations. Many of these smaller operations are
subchapter S corporations or other pass-through entities for tax purposes. Their owners
are therefore interested in the Panel’s efforts from the point of view of individual as well
as business taxpayers.
The Panel has posed the question: What are examples of “Headaches,
unnecessary complexity, and burdens that taxpayers - both individuals and businesses face because of the existing [federal tax] system.” ATA’s members tell us that the
following features of the Tax Code or its administration prove to be extremely
burdensome for them as both business and individual taxpayers:
 The alternative minimum tax for corporations;
 The alternative minimum tax for individuals;
 The phasing out and immediate reinstatement of the federal estate tax, which
makes planning both difficult and necessarily short-term;
 The continual changes in and the complexity of the tax laws relating to
defined-benefit pension plans;
 The continuing uncertainty over the proper structure and functioning of cashbalance pension plans;
 The continual changes in the depreciable lives for buildings;
American Trucking Associations
Page 3
Senator Connie Mack III
March 31, 2005
 The complexity of the tax treatment of foreign operations;
 Compliance with the broad requirements related to the disclosure of
transactions “substantially similar” to listed transactions (such as loss
transactions or transactions with significant differences between book and tax
values); and
 The continued necessity for a motor carrier’s state of vehicle registration to
rely on a hard-copy proof of payment of the federal heavy vehicle use tax,
imposed under §§ 4041, ff.
The American Trucking Associations appreciates the opportunity to offer
comments on these matters. We are following the Panel’s work with great interest.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Pitcher
Vice President, State Laws