Arkansas trucking companies that are no longer allowed to register their trucks in Oklahoma must pay back sales taxes before they can register in Arkansas, says the state attorney general.

According to published reports, Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor last week issued a legal opinion agreeing with the state Department of Finance and Administration, which says it must collect sales taxes dating back three years on trucks being registered in the state from elsewhere.
The issue came up after Oklahoma changed its rules to prohibit trucking companies from using third party registration agents to establish residency in the state. (The law does not apply to owner-operators.)
Arkansas trucking companies are lobbying the state legislature to change the laws, noting that about 90 percent of Arkansas’ for-hire motor carriers register in other states because of Arkansas’ high sales tax laws. Lane Kidd, executive director of the Arkansas Trucking Assn., says the state is one of only seven in the nation without a sales tax exemption for diesel trucks. He predicts that without tax reform, hundreds of jobs will leave the state as trucking companies leave Arkansas in search of more affordable taxes or go out of business.