Roy Littlefield, executive vice president of the Tire
Industry Association (TIA), was an invited speaker at
a May 16 media event hosted by U.S. Sen. Benjamin L.
Cardin (D-Md.) at a Baltimore-area gas
station.
Littlefield used the opportunity to call on Congress
to pass the pending Federal Highway Bill without any
tax increases and without a weight-distance tax,
which would eliminate the Federal Excise Tax on truck
tires and harm the retread industry.
Cardin held the press conference to highlight the
impact high oil prices are having on citizens and
businesses; he called for passage of the Close Big
Oil Tax Loophole Act, which would end $4 billion a
year in subsidies and tax breaks for the five biggest
oil companies.
Those companies – ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP and
ConocoPhillips – made nearly $1 trillion in profits
in the last decade and more than $35 billion in the
first three months of this year, according to
Cardin.
“Our nation’s roads are in poor shape, and that’s the
main reason why Congress must pass the Federal
Highway Bill without delay,” Littlefield told the
assembled reporters. “But, we can’t afford any new
taxes, and the proposal to pass a weight-distance tax
would cause immediate and potentially long-lasting
damage to the retread industry, which is helping keep
America’s commercial transportation vehicles ‘green’
and fuel-efficient,” he added.
Upon addressing the rising cost of oil, Littlefield
remarked: “The current high oil prices are having a
negative effect on the tire industry – including the
price of tires. No segment of the tire industry is
being spared from the effects of these high prices,
and consumers – including the trucking industry – are
ultimately the ones who are bearing the brunt of this
outrageous increase.”
For more information, visit www.tireindustry.com.
