Status: Responding to public and industry concerns about equitable tax treatment, Congress repealed the tax in a phased manner.

Issue: A deficit reduction tax on freight fuel was imposed a number of years ago. The truck and rail modes were subsequently relieved of the tax but a levy of $.043 remained in effect on the barge industry. A coalition of industry members organized to eliminate the tax.

We developed a series of messages to government officials and to his fellow employees. The latter received one of a series of packets explaining the issue, its impact on the organization and a suggestion for action if the recipient agreed with the firm’s position. This was an important point because we needed to avoid coercing teammates. Working with a series of databases, we created teammate packets that included the explanatory letter and pre-addressed letters to federal officeholders.