An evaluation of possible impacts of Indiana's participation in the International Registration Plan (IRP) on resident trucking industry and state economy is presented. The IRP is a multijurisdictional compact to share interstate truck registration fees among the member states and provinces. It is important to consider the total package of user taxes in making a decision about a possible! RP entry, which may change the registration fees for resident carriers. A careful consideration of any additional tax burden on resident carriers is particularly critical for states with a large number of registered trucks such as Indiana. The bottom line for any state is that it must capture fees from out-of-state carriers more closely representative of highway use. The issue is how this can be achieved without jeopardizing the sustenance and growth of local trucking and warehousing industry.

Over t. he years reciprocity among the states with respect to the use of highways by out-of-state trucks has become a complicated set of arrangements. There has been a proliferation of agreements and requirements on motor carriers for registering their fleet of vehicles. Truckers and shippers point out that the system has become complex and cumbersome. This leads to time delays, increased paperwork and regulation costs, and an imbalance between jurisdiction of road use and jurisdiction of fee payment. The International Registration Plan (IRP), initiated in 1973 and administered by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), is an attempt to simplify and unify interstate truck registration. Two earlier multilateral reciprocity