Photo by ep_jhu

D.C.’s food trucks are more and more popular with eaters, but not so with owners of brick-and-mortar restaurants. Though food truck operators face their own challenges, traditional restaurateurs complain that they skirt by on one big issue: they don’t pay sales taxes.

Today the D.C. Council moved one step closer to correcting that, passing legislation that will require food trucks to pay the same 10 percent sales taxes assessed on normal restaurants. Currently, the food truck vendors pay a flat $1,500 annual fee ($375 per quarter), a fact that has frustrated many a restaurant owner who say that they’re facing mobile competitors on an unfair playing field.

Not all food trucks and mobile vendors will qualify, though—food trucks that collect more than $375 in sales taxes on a quarterly basis will continue paying the taxes; trucks that collect less than that will pay the vending fees they pay currently instead. According to the D.C. CFO, the city’s 1,200 food trucks and mobile vendors are expected to produce upwards of $1.2 million in tax revenue per year.

The bill was originally introduced in March 2011 by Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), but only started moving last year. This bill will parallel new rules for food trucks floated by the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs as a means to quiet the conflicts that emerged between brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks.