Proponents claim that there’s a boatload of money to be made in starting a ferry service that hauls trucks and cars across the Lake. Plus, pollution would be reduced… as would wear and tear on the roads. But, Lake County Congressman Steve LaTourette says there’s one major problem.
LaTOURETTE:
"....not cost competitive for the shipper to consider this to be an option."
What makes it so expensive; is something called the Harbor Maintenance Tax, levied on the owners of cargo arriving by water.
Cleveland Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Pennsylvania's Phil English were Ways and Means Committee members who first introduced an exemption for Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence Seaway system...
But she died; and he lost re-election. The idea languished.
Now LaTourette and Pat Tiberi of central Ohio have revived it, in the form of a bill named the “Short Sea Shipping Act”
LaTourette says Cleveland, Fairport Harbor, and Ashtabula would quickly get business from Canadian Ports Burwell and Stanley... but critics claim a tax exemption would cost the U-S.
LaTOURETTE:
"The bean counters are saying, `Well, hey, you're gonna cost the treasury this much money by not kicking in to the Harbor Maintenance Tax'. But we're not collecting it today!"
....because no one wants to pay extra, to ship here.
There IS about a billion dollars a year collected through the H-M-T; elsewhere.
LaTourette claims there is growing bipartisan support for a tax exemption. He points to Studies that show exempting our area would open not only Canadian ports, but encourage US ports to transport freight to each other on the water. They also show one ship carries the tonnage of 2,800 big rigs.... which the Army Corps of Engineers says would save about $3.6 billion ....a year.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.
