§ 60301. Regular tonnage taxes

• (a) A tax is imposed at the rate of 4.5 cents per ton, not to exceed a total of 22.5 cents per ton per year, for fiscal years 2006 through 2010, and 2 cents per ton, not to exceed a total of 10 cents per ton per year, for each fiscal year thereafter, at each entry in a port of the United States of—
  • (1) a vessel entering from a foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West Indies Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the coast of South America bordering the Caribbean Sea; or
  • (2) a vessel returning to the same port or place in the United States from which it departed, and not entering the United States from another port or place, except—
    • (A) a vessel of the United States;
    • (B) a recreational vessel (as defined in section 2101 of this title ); or
    • (C) a barge.
• (b) A tax is imposed at the rate of 13.5 cents per ton, not to exceed a total of 67.5 cents per ton per year, for fiscal years 2006 through 2010, and 6 cents per ton, not to exceed a total of 30 cents per ton per year, for each fiscal year thereafter, on a vessel at each entry in a port of the United States from a foreign port or place not named in subsection (a)(1).
• (c) Subsection (a) does not apply to a vessel entering other than by sea from a foreign port or place at which tonnage, lighthouse, or other equivalent taxes are not imposed on vessels of the United States.