Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/818577
14 | Overdrive | May 2017 Logbook The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has taken its law- suit against the federal government's electronic logging device mandate to its last possible stop. The group filed a petition April 10 with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear its case for why the mandate should be tossed. OOIDA, whose legal team is repre- senting independent truckers Richard Pingel and Mark Elrod in the case, has asked the nation's high court to re-evaluate a lower court ruling issued in October that upheld the U.S. De- partment of Transportation's rule to require truckers to use logging devices to track hours of service. The rule was published in De- cember 2015 and requires nearly all truckers, with a few exceptions, to use an ELD starting Dec. 18. The Su- preme Court receives hundreds of pe- titions a year but generally hears only a few dozen cases. Four of the nine justices must vote to hear a suit for it to come before the court. There's no timetable for when the court will make its decision on whether it will hear the case. – James Jaillet OOIDA takes ELD case to Supreme Court BRAKE SAFETY DAY, an intensive brake-safety enforcement day, will be held Sept. 7 and will replace the full-week Brake Safety Week program held in years past. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance event is in combination with an unannounced one-day brake-check blitz that traditionally has taken place in early May. CARGONET REPORTED 192 cargo thefts across the United States and Canada in the first quarter of 2017, with an average loss per event of $149,522 and an estimated total loss value of $28.7 million. California led all states with 51 thefts. Most cargo thefts occurred in secured trucking yards (40), fol- lowed by warehouses (32). The top-targeted cargo was food and beverage products. OOIDA wants DOT's electronic logging device mandate overturned. President Trump unveiled a tax cut proposal that would cap the tax rate for businesses that file their taxes through their owners' personal income tax, such as owner-operator truckers, at 15 percent. The plan would remove the existing percentage brackets of 25, 28, 33 and 39.6. It's unclear how many owner-oper- ator businesses would be affected by the tax cut, as many owner-operators already are in the 15 percent bracket. The plan also caps corporate tax rates at 15 percent. It also would cut taxes for low- er-income earners. Trump's plan, according to a brief outline released by the White House, would double the individual deduction, meaning those earning less than $24,000 a year would pay no income tax. The administration was engaging Congress to flesh out full details and brackets. Trump's plan likely will face an up- hill battle in Congress, though at least it could serve as a starting point for tax reform efforts. The White House and congressional leadership have said tax reform is a key priority while Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Critics of the plan say it does not institute new mechanisms to make up for the loss of tax revenue for the federal government. Others have noted the plan would allow Trump to drastically cut his own tax bill. Trump said the plan accounts for revenue losses by eliminating de- ductions and loopholes for "the very rich," but his plan does not mention specifically what he plans to remove. – James Jaillet and Todd Dills Trump's plan would cap owner- operator taxes at 15 percent. Proposal cuts business taxes