President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that defers diesel taxes and allows tax-free red-dye diesel on American roads. But the relief hasn't hit Nevada just yet.
Nevada truckers are being asked to not use dyed fuel until further information is given.
“We're still waiting on guidance from [the] Treasury to really know what this means and what its impact is,” says Paul Enos, CEO of the Nevada Trucking Association.
The fuel remains illegal on Nevada highways unless it's used in very specific ways.
The president's order specifies that taxes will be deferred through the end of the year, so drivers could be on the hook should the Internal Revenue Service enforce the taxes, at the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury.
This comes as diesel prices remain near record highs. According to AAA, the average gallon of diesel in Reno will run you $6.87. That’s 43 cents more expensive than a month ago, and about a dollar more expensive than the average unleaded gallon at $5.76. Nationally, the average is up 40 cents over the past month to $6.30.
Despite more fuel becoming available to truckers, Enos says the order doesn't change the fuel supply.
“Every gallon of diesel coursing through our pipelines in this country is clear,” he says. “When it gets to that tank farm, the wholesaler then dyes it if there's not a tax on it."
The dye allows law enforcement to quickly identify untaxed diesel.
Enos says on a typical 8,000-gallon delivery of diesel to truckers' terminals, they would save $1,920.
“Anything that helps us on our bottom end, you know, that's going to be better for us,” says Jim Frackelton.
Frackelton is based in Georgia and hauls loads with his pickup truck. Right now, he says his fuel bill runs him $300 daily.
Russell Shannon says the next step in his career is to own and operate his own truck, but rising fuel costs have hamstrung that goal.
“I’ve been driving for 14 years. I want to be an owner-operator, but … ain't no way I can afford the fuel to do so,” he says.
And it's not just fuel prices holding back him and other truckers.
“We can't further our career or go any further than where we're at because of the price of fuel or the price of getting the truck repaired,” Shannon says, “or the rates and the loads of real low and then the cost of fuel on top of it, and then the truck payments."
The president’s order does direct the Secretary of the Treasury to explore ways to eliminate the deferred taxes, but there is still the chance those taxes would be due.
