Pennsylvania truckers take fuel price protest convoy to state Capitol

HARRISBURG, Pa.: Scores of truckers took to the highways and streets around the Capitol on Monday and blasted their horns to protest rising fuel prices.

As the protest convoy circled the block, about 100 people gathered on the Capitol steps to urge state lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell to eliminate Pennsylvania’s highest-in-the-nation diesel fuel tax of 38.1 cents per gallon.


Consumers also pay state taxes of 32.3 cents per gallon on gasoline, 11th highest in the nation.

“All the state taxes and the federal tax must come off of fuel,” said Mark Kirsch, an independent truck driver from Myerstown who organized the protest. “We’re going to take our country back.”

Truckers around the country have been talking about a protest or strike as high diesel prices and low freight rates have pushed an increasing number of truckers into bankruptcy. Reposessor Nassau Asset Management repossessed 110 percent more trucks in 2007 than it did in 2006, according to president Edward Castagna.

AP