Bentley Calls for Expansion of HMT

World Cargo News Online reported that former Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley has called for the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) to be collected on all freight from foreign sources entering the United States not just on ocean-borne cargoes.

|!|In a speech to west coast maritime interests Bentley noted that Washington state shippers are concerned that substantial Asian cargo bound for the US is being diverted via the Port of Prince Rupert in Canada to avoid the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) which the US instituted in 1986 to pay for dredging ship channels. Freight entering the US from Canada or Mexico by rail does not pay any tax|!| the article said.