News Tribune graphic, 2012
The legislation would change the Harbor Maintenance Tax and give shippers “new incentives to move their goods through American ports-particularly those in the Pacific Northwest,” said Senator Murray.
A US Senate bill could go forward next month that will propose a repeal of the existing Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) replacing it with a fee to be levied on goods imported by road and rail from Canada and Mexico.
The HMT is a federal tax imposed on the value of the goods being shipped through US ports. … The HMT is not assessed on importers who route cargo through non-US ports and afterwards move their goods into US markets by land.
The “Maritime Goods Movement Act for the 21st Century” would repeal the HMT and replace it with a Maritime Goods Movement User Fee (MGMUF), the proceeds of which would be fully available to Congress to provide for port operation and maintenance, and which would “ensure that shippers cannot avoid the MGMUF by using ports in Canada and Mexico.”