15 MB - Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute

The HMT Generates Substantially More Revenue than the U.S.Currently Needs for Harbor Maintenance........................ 34The Income from the HMT Is Not Fairly Allocated to theCommercial Ports Which Generate HMT Revenues.........34The HMT Does Not Allocate Its Tax Burden to Either1) Ports which Require the Largest Dredging ExpendituresOr, 2) Vessels which Require the Deepest Drafts............ 35The Income from the HMT is Used for Work at Some Portsbut Not Others................................................................. 35HMT Revenue is a Small Portion of Total Transportation TaxRevenue and a Small Portion of TransportationSpending ......................................................................... 36Attempts to Fix the HMT’s Flaws .............................................................36The 1992 Attempt to Reduce the HMT ....................................... 36The Trust Fund Excess/HMT Rate Reduction Bill........................36The Harbor Services Fund .............................................................36The Support for Harbor Investment Program Act of 1999............37The Container Port Exemption Bill of 2002..................................37The $100,000,000 Import Value Port Limit Bill of 2003..............37The Ferry Borne Trailer Cargo Exemption Bill of 2004 ...............37The Short Sea Shipping Tax Exemption Act of 2005....................37The Great Lakes Short Sea Shipping Enhancement Act of 2006 ..37Proposed Solutions to the HMT Problem ..................................................38Proposal 1: Abolish the HMT and Fund Harbor MaintenanceUsing General Government Revenue ................................38Proposal 2: Abolish the HMT and Fund Harbor MaintenanceUsing an Increase in the Diesel Fuel Excise Tax...............38Proposal 3: The Short Sea Shipping Tax Credit ............................40Chapter 4: Potential Economic Impacts of the Research Results.........................42Chapter 5: Conclusion............................................................................................44References..............................................................................................................45AppendicesAppendix A: Tax Inventory Data ........................................................... A-1Appendix B: Commercial Maritime Assessments Tax Code Inventory B-1Appendix C: Detailed HMT Timeline .................................................... C-1Appendix D: Estimating Harbor Maintenance Tax Revenues................ D-1List of TablesTable 2.1: Overview of Federal Agencies Ranked by Number ofAssessment on Maritime Commerce ...................................8Table 2.2: Federal Commercial Maritime Assessments Other thanv