AKRON—Ohio Democratic Congresspersons Sherrod Brown and Emilia Sykes and Illinois Republican Darin LaHood have submitted legislation that they say is designed to provide a tax credit to commercial consumers who purchase truck/bus tire retreads.
The bills—one in the House of Representatives (H.R. 8578) and one in the Senate—are both dubbed the Retreaded Truck Tire Jobs, Supply Chain Security and Sustainability Act of 2024.
If enacted, the bills would provide U.S. buyers of retreaded truck tires produced in the U.S. with a credit of 30 percent or $30 (whichever is lower) per purchase that they could use to offset their federal income tax liability.
The backers of the bills said the legislation will create good paying jobs, promote economic development and strengthen the domestic supply chain by providing a tax credit to lower the cost of retreading tires.
The backers also see the proposed tax credits as a tool to counter the growth of "lower-quality, cheap" imported tires from predominantly Asian nations. Such tires are often considered unsuitable for retreading, the bill's sponsors claim, and discarded after a single use.
A 2023 report commissioned by Bridgestone Americas found that for every new premium tire sold in the U.S., 1.1 retreads are produced, but for the imported tires, fewer than 0.4 retreads are produced.