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June 20, 2005 11:30 AM, EDT

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hree senators introduced legislation last week that would not only give fleets a 5% tax credit on the purchase of 2007-model Class 7 and 8 trucks equipped with cleaner-burning diesel engines, but would allow for expensing the full purchase price of those vehicles on a single year’s tax returns.

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) introduced the incentives bill June 14 to “ensure the widest possible distribution of this clean diesel technology into the U.S. trucking fleet.”

An industry lobbyist said the bill could become a part of the energy bill, which is now before the Senate.

Smith’s bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and offers incentives for trucking companies to purchase new 2007-model trucks with their lower-emission engines in the first year they are to be made.

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