We’ve been hearing a lot lately about tax incentives available to truckers to help offset the cost of new technologies. Need a new emissions filter? There may be a tax break for that. Forced to run your engine less? A tax credit towards the purchase of an idling reduction system may soon be available. But retrofitting older trucks -- or even somewhat new trucks -- to conform with government mandates can still sometimes be uncomfortably pricy. 

As you know, government regulation - i.e. the desire to have less of it - is a top concern for the trucking industry. Equally of concern is finding the means to afford the kinds of trucking-related equipment the government is now requiring you to have. Some believe that the stimulus package is “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to help pay for retrofitting trucks to comply with government mandates, while others say the stimulus money is merely a “drop in the bucket.”

Either way you look at it, many are taking advantage of what opportunities are around to help cover the cost of new equipment, like the Georgia Ports Authority. The GPA is using its portion of the stimulus to help pay for modifications to cargo equipment so it can operate on ultra-law sulfur diesel fuel. And there are many other such examples.

But what matters most is what you think! Do you believe federal mandates for new equipment are too costly? Or is the stimulus money and tax credits available helping you afford what you need?