July 15, 2008
The Honorable Gabrielle Giffords
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Representative Giffords:
On behalf of the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's leading small business advocacy organization, I want to thank you for introducing the Diesel Tax Parity Act (H.R. 6487), which would help relieve small businesses from the high price of diesel fuel.
The Diesel Tax Parity Act would reduce the federal diesel tax from 24.3 cents per gallon to 18.3 cents per gallon, which equals the current federal tax on gasoline. The bill is a good step to ease the pain for small-business owners who operate diesel vehicles in their businesses.
According to a 2006 NFIB National Small Business Poll on Energy Efficiency, the single largest business cost for over 10-percent of small businesses is related to energy used in the business and over 37-percent of businesses have energy costs linked primarily to operating vehicles. As the average price of diesel fuel at the pump rises to over $4.20 per gallon (according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service), small-business owners who operate vehicles with diesel fuel have been hit the hardest by these record prices.
The current price of gasoline and diesel is having an effect on small-business owner decision-making. According to the 2006 NFIB Poll, in response to higher diesel/gasoline prices, 18-percent of small-business owners with business vehicles rescheduled or changed routing; 16-percent used fewer vehicles or used them less frequently; and 11-percent purchased more energy efficient vehicles. Your effort to reduce the diesel fuel tax will go a long way to helping small-business owners continue running their businesses without rescheduling routes or using vehicles less frequently.
Thank you again for introducing a bill that would lessen the burden on small-business owners who operate vehicles with diesel fuel. I look forward to working with you in the future as Congress works to help the small business sector remain strong.
Sincerely,
Dan Danner
Executive Vice President
Public Policy and Political
