Small carriers in Idaho say they are struggling to survive after the state repealed its weight-distance tax to settle a suit brought by the American Trucking Associations claiming the two-tier tax was unconstitutional.

According to the Associated Press, state Sen. Darrel Deide and fellow Senate Transportation Committee member Jerry Thorne are working on a bill to revamp the new truck registration system implemented earlier this year to replace the weight-distance tax.
The weight-distance tax was ruled unconstitutional because it benefited Idaho companies at the expense of out-of-state companies, in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The new system charges truckers a flat fee based on a range of miles the trucks run. Trucks registered to travel up to 7,500 miles pay the lowest amount. But companies with trucks running in the state's newly designated midrange of 7,501 to 50,000 miles are paying four times the amount they used to pay.
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Evan Frasure has received many phone calls from unhappy truckers, already faced with higher fuel and insurance prices this year.
Frasure told the AP that the Legislature may create more small-mileage brackets. But if the new measure cuts the state's income from mid-range truckers, it will have to come from somewhere - possibly the pockets of long-haul operations.