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The American Truck Dealers’ top legislative priority is to repeal the federal excise tax, and truck dealers and automotive trade association executives will converge on Capitol Hill this month to support this important effort.

For decades, America’s roads and bridges were paid for by the users of transportation systems through modest fuel taxes. The system worked well for years, but as vehicles became more fuel efficient and cars that use little or no fuel at all became more prevalent, less revenue from this user fee flowed into the Highway Trust Fund. It's time to forge a new path forward.

Updated lease accounting rules that take effect in December promise to keep finance and accounting executives busy this year.

Should the federal government be measuring your company’s safety culture? The short answer is “no.” Absolutely not.

The 12 months I’ve spent as chairman of American Trucking Associations provided a whirlwind of great experiences and key victories for trucking. They also provided some career highlights.

Transparency is a valuable and sought-after trait for all of today’s top industry players, especially now that things such as business integrity and proactive problem-solving sometimes are baseline requirements of today’s consumer.

We keep seeing signs that things are looking up for the trucking industry. Most of the relevant economic indicators are favorable for trucking. Commodities are getting stronger, oil rig counts are increasing and the housing recovery is persisting. At the same time, small businesses are feeling a greater sense of optimism, and improvements to the tax code may boost entrepreneurialism. Low unemployment rates ultimately will lead to higher wages, giving consumers more money to spend and putting more goods on trucks.

The recent announcement that Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation are merging is a much bigger and industry-changing event than realized. It comes on the heels of another major development: the public offering by Schneider. In three years, these two deals will be viewed as having set in motion a number of mergers and acquisitions at a pace never witnessed before in the truckload and intermodal industry.

There is nothing fun about not getting paid for the loads you have hauled. But unfortunately, every small trucking company and owner-operator will encounter clients who sometimes take 45 to 60 days — or longer — to pay.