FRA Urges Support for Tennessee Logger's Off-Road Diesel Fight

RELEASE: July 14, 2006

CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385)
nward@forestresources.org

Rockville, MD – The Forest Resources Association has taken up the cause of a logger unfairly being denied Tennessee’s agricultural exemption for tax on diesel fuel used off-road. FRA has joined the Tennessee Forestry Association in raising funds to contribute to the logger’s defense.

“In withholding this exemption from legitimate forest operations, by excluding forest management from other agricultural land uses, we feel the Tennessee Department of Revenue has exceeded its authority. We also feel this is a precedent-setting case that will have a very negative financial impact on the logging community and the wood fiber supply chain,” stated FRA President Richard Lewis.

The state has denied Tennessee logger Tom Donegan’s firm, Donco, Inc., the statutory diesel fuel tax exemption on the grounds that his firm’s timber harvesting operations do not take place “at a farm, nursery, or greenhouse.” Arguing that forest management activities, including silviculture and logging, are a form of farming for the intent of the tax exemption legislation, Donegan has spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees already in contesting Tennessee’s assessment of back taxes, fines, and penalties.

The Tennessee Forestry Association has set up a special “Logger Fuel Tax Exemption Defense Fund” to assist Donegan with his legal fees. TFA has contributed $500 to this Fund, and FRA has contributed $1,000. Both organizations urge their members, and others interested in defending the precedent of timber harvesting’s position within traditional agricultural operations, to contribute to the Fund.

Please mail checks payable to “TFA – Logging Fuel Tax Exemption Defense Fund” to TFA, 2605 Elm Hill Pike, Suite G, Nashville, TN 37214. Contributions to the Fund are not tax deductible.

The Forest Resources Association Inc. is a nonprofit trade association concerned with the safe, efficient, and sustainable harvest of forest products and their transport from woods to mill. FRA represents wood consumers, independent logging contractors, and wood dealers, as well as businesses providing products and services to the forest resource-based industries.
 

Return to News Releases

Forest Resources Association Inc. (FRA)
600 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 350, Rockville, MD  20852
FRA National office telephone: 301/838-9385
Click here for FRA Staff and FRA Division contact information

FRA Site Map