Border securityN.Y. lawmakers oppose proposed hikes in U.S.-Canada border crossing fees

The U.S. government is considering charging a new fee for every vehicle or pedestrian crossing the U.S.–Canada border. This has upset lawmakers in New York who believe the toll would hurt trans-boundary commerce and undermine efforts to ease the flow of traffic and goods between the two countries.

The Canadian government is not happy with the proposal, either. A spokesman for the Canadian embassy  in Washington was direct, if diplomatic:  “We’re confident that any study would conclude that the considerable economic damage any fee would do would greatly outweigh any revenue generated.”

The National Post reports that there are currently fees which are charged at the U.S.–Canada border for inspections of agricultural products and other commercial goods. The tolls fund maintenance of roads, bridges, and other infrastructure along the border.

Representative Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) said the new fees, which were buried deep in the DHS 2014 proposed budget, are “the absolute last thing we should be doing.” The United States and Canada have been engaged in a  joint effort to ease cross-border activity, while at the same time  improving surveillance and enforcement along the northern border.

Higgins also hinted that a new border fee along the northern border would unfairly subsidize security operations  along the U.S.-Mexico border, which are more expensive and challenging.

DHS secretary Janet Napolitano released a statement on the proposed budget, saying that the agency needs to develop new revenue streams in order to hire border guards and support operations at international border crossing which are becoming more costly.

“Processing the more than 350 million travelers annually provides nearly $150 billion in economic stimulus, yet the fees that support these operations have not been adjusted in many cases for more than a decade,” Napolitano stated. “As the complexity of our operations continues to expand, the gap between fee collections and the operations they support is growing, and the number of workforce hours fees support decreases each year.”

The DHS 2014 budget proposal states that the agency will “conduct a study assessing the feasibility and cost relating to establishing and collecting a land border crossing fee for both land border pedestrians and passenger vehicles along the northern and southwest borders of the United States.”

The study, which will be completed in nine months, will examine “the feasibility of collecting from existing operators on the land border such as bridge commissions, toll operators, commercial passenger bus, and commercial passenger rail,” as well as identify what investments would be needed to collect the fee “at land ports of entry where existing capability is not present,” and identify whether there are “any legal and regulatory impediments to establishing and collecting a land border crossing fee.”

Previous attempts by the U.S. government to generate additional income from travelers crossing the border were shut down quickly by politicians in border states, and many lawmakers are working to make sure the fate of the current proposal will not be different.

“I was shocked to see a proposal for a new toll at the Northern Border and I will fight to put the brakes on this shortsighted fee,” Higgins said in a statement urging the federal agency to withdraw the proposal.

In a letter Higgins wrote to Napolitano, he stated: “My district in Western New York is home to five international border crossings —  three for automobiles and two for rail. Traffic crossing the border is an enormous component of our economy.”

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) told the Buffalo News that he would oppose any fees or fee hikes at border crossings.

“A secure and efficient border crossing is the lifeblood of the Western New York economy, and seeking to slap travelers here with onerous fees is a bad idea,” Schumer stated. “We don’t need a study to tell us that.”