The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the Indiana Tax Court's decision over the constitutionality of the collection of fuel taxes on toll roads.
In Anderson vs. Indiana Department of State Revenue, OOIDA member Max Anderson of Muncie, with the assistance of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn., challenged Indiana's imposition of its fuel tax on commercial motor vehicles while using the Indiana Toll Road.
OOIDA believes that since the Indiana Toll Road is completely paid for by tolls, the collection of another user fee -- such as the fuel tax for the use of the same highway -- represents an undue burden on commerce. In other cases dealing with the Commerce Clause the Supreme Court has ruled such a tax is not reasonably related to services provided by the state and is unconstitutional.
The Indiana Tax Court, however, rejected OOIDA's argument by holding that the fuel tax is not a user fee even though it is only collected on commercial motor vehicles for the use of Indiana roads. OOIDA then sought a review by the Supreme Court, the second time it has done so on this issue.
In 1999, OOIDA initiated lawsuits against four states over the fuel tax/toll road challenge -- New York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In January 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a similar petition in the case against New York. In that case, OOIDA had appealed to other industry associations, such as the American Trucking Assn., the Truckload Carriers Assn., the Motor Freight Carriers Assn. and Tank Truck Carriers Assn. to file supporting amicus briefs to the court. None of the other trade associations responded.
OOIDA President Jim Johnston said, "This is a disappointing decision, particularly not being afforded the chance to even argue the merits of our case. We were confident the Supreme Court would have upheld our arguments. However, it is still important to oppose these types of unjustified taxes and fees wherever they exist."