Among Donald Trump’s efforts to buy midterm votes, the dictator told us we can use dyed, untaxed off-road diesel in our highway vehicles without penalty until December 31. But there could be a supply penalty for farmers:
The Trump administration says its executive order will save truckers more than $100 each time they fill up. But truckers are concerned about the availability of dyed diesel.
“Most of that is for farm tractors, combines, and off-road vehicles, so most of these stations aren’t set up for that,” Jagodzinkski said.
Some drivers we spoke with wonder whether allowing more dyed diesel on the road might leave farmers high and dry.
“They’re trying to get their crops out of the field. Is that going to create a dye diesel shortage for those guys?” Emmett Keyser of Brandon said [Perry Groten, “Local Truckers React to Dyed Diesel Executive Order,” KELO-TV, 2026.10.06].
And Trump’s typically half-baked order doesn’t waive the diesel tax; the feds may still come next year demanding that you pay tax on the dyed diesel you buy during the last three months of this year:
Ranchers and farmers using red-dyed diesel on the road should understand that the recently announced tax relief is a deferral, not a permanent tax break.
Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, says President Trump’s executive order directs Treasury to defer certain federal diesel tax obligations for qualifying fuel used between October 5 and December 31, without penalties or interest.
“What we’re looking at is a temporary deferral.” explained Steenhoek. “Some of the other states, they’ve used the language suspension. So, you really have to kind of go through the weeds to see what that actually means. If it’s a deferral, then your basically just delaying the tax that you need to pay. So, it might take the edge off in the harvest and cattle shipping season of 2026, but the bill is going to come due in early 2027 [NAFB News Service/Stephanie Hoff, “Red-Dyed Diesel Tax Relief Is a Deferral, Not a Waiver,” KBHB Radio, 2026.10.08].
The dyed-diesel order creates all sorts of risk and confusion for drivers, owners, and retailers that the states and Congress have to clear up. That’s what we get when we let an incompetent and impulsive megalomaniac issue orders by whim and bribery instead of working through the regular political process to forge intelligent, workable policy.