On June 2, 2026 — four days ago — two U.S. senators introduced a bipartisan bill that the trucking industry has been pushing for decades. If it passes, it would eliminate a 12% federal excise tax on new heavy trucks that's been on the books since 1917. That's not a typo. A World War I-era tax is currently adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of every new semi truck in America — and it may finally be going away.
That's the headline from this week. But there are two other stories breaking alongside it that paint a complete picture of where trucking is heading in June 2026. Here's all three.
Story 1: The 109-Year-Old Tax That Nobody Should Be Paying
On June 2, 2026, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) introduced the Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act — a bipartisan bill that would repeal the 12% federal excise tax on heavy trucks. The 12% excise tax is the highest excise tax levied on any product in the entire country. It adds as much as $15,000 to $30,000 to the cost of a new heavy truck, trailer, semitrailer chassis, or tractor, making it more expensive for trucking companies and independent operators to modernize their fleets. Jake Jorgovan
The backstory on this tax is one of those things that sounds like satire until you confirm it's real. The tax was enacted by Congress in 1917 to help finance World War I. It has remained on the books ever since — through every decade of trucking innovation, fuel economy improvement, and safety technology advancement. Drive My Way
The FET doesn't just add to purchase prices. It actively distorts the market in ways that hurt drivers and safety simultaneously. Because the tax applies only to new vehicle purchases and not used trucks, it creates a direct financial incentive to keep older vehicles on the road longer, slowing the adoption of newer trucks that are safer and more fuel-efficient. Jake Jorgovan
Think about what that means in practice. Every fleet manager and owner-operator doing the math on new vs. used equipment has to factor in a 12% federal penalty on the new option. That penalty pushes them toward used trucks — which tend to be older, less fuel-efficient, and carrying the deferred maintenance history that Roadcheck 2026 exposed in brutal detail. The tax that Congress enacted to fund a war that ended 108 years ago has been incentivizing older, less safe trucks on American roads ever since.
The tax adds $7,000 or more to the price of a standard trailer, at least $20,000 to the price of new clean-diesel trucks, and up to $50,000 to the price of zero-emission or alternative-fueled vehicles. It amounts to a $6 billion annual burden on the trucking industry. Drive My Way
"This tax hurts the small businesses and independent truckers that are the core of American trucking, and it promotes the usage of older, less efficient trucks," said Senator Young. "Cutting the federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks and trailers will lead to newer, safer, and cleaner trucks on America's roads." Jake Jorgovan
The American Trucking Associations and the American Truck Dealers both support the bill, which is now under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.
What this means for owner-operators and small fleets.
This is potentially the most significant trucking legislation of the year for anyone considering a truck purchase. A 12% reduction in the cost of new equipment on a $180,000 truck is $21,600 back in your pocket. On a $210,000 truck, it's $25,200. For small operators making the math work on fleet modernization, the difference between $21,600 adding to your purchase price and that money staying in your business is substantial.
The bill hasn't passed yet — it's in committee. Bills have been introduced to repeal the FET before and stalled. But the bipartisan nature of this bill, the current political environment around small business support, and the backing of major industry associations gives it more momentum than previous attempts. Watch this one closely.
Story 2: Spot Rates Just Crossed Above Contract — The Signal Drivers Have Been Waiting For
The FreightWaves State of the Industry report published four days ago contains a sentence worth reading twice.
Spot rates are outpacing contract rates — a widening gap that is pulling capacity into the spot market, increasing rejection rates, and signaling upward pricing pressure for shippers. Truckstop
Spot rates crossing above contract rates is not a routine market development. It's a structural signal — and historically it's one of the clearest indicators that a freight market tightening cycle is maturing into something sustained rather than seasonal.
Here's the mechanics of why it matters. Contract rates are what carriers locked in with shippers months ago. Spot rates are what the market pays right now for available capacity. When spot exceeds contract, carriers have a direct financial incentive to reject their contract freight and chase the more valuable spot load instead. The freight market remains volatile and capacity-sensitive — disruptions like Roadcheck quickly drove tender rejections and spot rates higher, highlighting an unstable, supply-constrained environment. Truckstop
That instability isn't a bug in the current market. It's a feature of a supply-constrained environment where every disruption — an enforcement blitz, a weather event, a holiday weekend — creates capacity gaps that take days to fill. The market doesn't have slack to absorb shocks. It's running tight enough that shocks echo.
For CDL-A OTR drivers the practical read is the same one that's been building all spring: the leverage to negotiate pay, lane structures, and carrier relationships is at its highest point in years — and it's continuing to grow. Shippers who locked in contract rates before this cycle are now discovering those rates are below market. When contracts come up for renewal, they're going to have to meet the spot rate reality or lose capacity. That repricing flows through to driver pay at carriers that aren't running razor-thin margins.
Story 3: Georgia Ports Just Put Facial Recognition on Truck Drivers
This one arrived quietly but has implications beyond the Port of Savannah.
The Georgia Ports Authority rolled out truck driver facial recognition technology at the Garden City Terminal in Savannah on June 4, 2026, as part of a push to streamline operations and reduce fraud. Godrivers360
The technology works at gate entry: a driver approaches the terminal gate, the system captures a facial scan, matches it against the driver's on-file credentials and truck registration, and either clears or flags the entry. GPA cited both security and efficiency as motivations — the system is designed to eliminate fraudulent pickups, reduce gate processing times, and improve the accuracy of cargo custody tracking throughout the terminal. Godrivers360
The fraud prevention angle is the more important one. Cargo theft at port facilities — particularly identity-based fraud where criminals impersonate legitimate carriers to pick up containers — has been a significant and growing problem. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, several high-profile cargo theft incidents at major U.S. ports involved criminals using fraudulent credentials to claim legitimate loads. Godrivers360
For drivers running port freight in Savannah — one of the busiest ports on the East Coast — the practical change is registration. Drivers making terminal calls at Garden City Terminal need to ensure their credentials are current and enrolled in the facial recognition system before their first gate visit. Drivers whose credentials don't match the enrolled biometric will be held at the gate for manual verification, which adds significant time to a terminal call. Godrivers360
The broader implication is that Savannah won't be the last port to implement this. Port operators across the country have been evaluating similar systems following the cargo theft surge, and the Georgia Ports Authority's deployment is expected to serve as a model for other major terminals. If you run drayage, intermodal pickup, or port freight on any major U.S. corridor, biometric gate access is likely coming to a terminal near you within the next 12–18 months. Godrivers360
The Week in Context
Three stories, all published this week. They point in the same direction.
The FET repeal bill would make new trucks $15,000–$30,000 cheaper, accelerate fleet modernization, and reduce the financial penalty that currently pushes operators toward older equipment. The Roadcheck data showed exactly why that matters — older deferred-maintenance equipment is what fills the out-of-service statistics.
The spot-over-contract crossing is the freight market telling you the tightening cycle has reached a new phase. This isn't a seasonal blip anymore. It's a structural repricing of what it costs to move freight in America when qualified drivers and maintained equipment are genuinely scarce.
And the Georgia Ports facial recognition deployment is a preview of where the industry is heading on identity verification — at terminals, at ports, and potentially at the carrier registration level through Motus. The accountability infrastructure is being built from every entry point simultaneously.
The direction is consistent across all of it: toward an industry where qualifications are verified, equipment is maintained, drivers are properly credentialed, and the people who've done things right get paid accordingly.
At OTR Express Group, we've been on the right side of this before it became a trend. If you're a CDL-A OTR driver who wants to work in an industry that's cleaning itself up — and with a carrier positioned to benefit from the market conditions that cleanup creates — reach out.
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