| Calvert |
U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who first introduced the legislation earlier this year, told Congressional colleagues at a transportation committee meeting held in Orange County Tuesday that his proposal is likely to be included in a national transportation bill to be introduced in the House early next year. He also said that while there is not yet a companion bill in the Senate, he has been shopping around for interested sponsors.
Calvert estimates that his plan, which would impose a 0.075 percent tax on the value of each shipment entering or exiting the nation's more than 300 ports of entry — comprising seaports, airports and border crossings — could raise $3 billion to $5 billion a year during its proposed 10-year life.
The focus on the shipment value under Calvert's plan differs significantly from two recent flat-rate taxes imposed at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles totaling $50 per TEU. The Port of Oakland is considering a similar per-TEU tax and a statewide $30 per-TEU flat tax is set to move forward sometime this summer in the California legislature.
Calvert has not yet defined what exactly would comprise a single shipment under his plan, however he has said in the past that a single shipment could comprise more than one container.
Under the proposed legislation, a $500 maximum tax per shipment would be set, regardless of the shipment's maximum value. This would equate to the maximum $500 tax being applied to any single shipment worth just under $7,000.
A 2006 University of Berkley study found that the average value of goods per container shipped through the Southern California ports by major importers ranged from about $12,000 per TEU to nearly $30,000 per TEU. These importers include Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target, Sears/Kmart, and Ikea. Under Calvert's plan, each of these would shipments would likely face the maximum $500 tax.
Theoretically, if all of the cargo taxes go into effect, including Calvert's, Oakland's and the state's, a 40-foot container moving through the Long Beach, Los Angeles, or Oakland ports may at some point in the future be subject to more than $660 in taxes.
Calvert's plan calls for the taxes collected under his bill to be used within 300 miles of the port where they are collected, and used only for goods-movement related projects. In the case of the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports this would mean any project between the Pacific Coast near Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the neighboring state of Nevada.
The proposed legislation would set up a commission in each state to determine projects that could seek the federal funds. Projects meeting the legislation criteria could receive up to 80 percent of their total funding from the collected tax revenue, with local agencies being required to provide the remaining 20 percent. ' Keith Higginbotham
