While two bills in the House look to raise about $400 million more for roads a year, the Senate appears to want to direct a larger amount to roads.
The Senate also appears less interested than the House and Gov. Nikki Haley in changing the way the South Carolina Department of Transportation operates.
In a report last year, the DOT estimated it needed more than $1 billion extra to get the state’s roads and bridges to good condition.
A special Senate committee is reviewing six bills with four different plans to increase road revenue. Here are highlights of the plans.
Grooms’ Funding Plan
Sen. Larry Grooms has two bills to increase road funding. Both would involve raising the gas tax by 20 cents over a decade, while incrementally cutting the state’s income tax rate 2 percentage points.
He also wants to take 20 percent of any new revenue South Carolina gets each budget year and put it toward roads until 5 percent of the state’s general budget is paying for highways and bridges.
Grooms said his plans will raise much more than the $400 million per year the House and governor seem focused on.
“Four-hundred million dollars doesn’t even buy us any new lane capacity,’’ said Grooms, R-Charleston, at the subcommittee meeting.
South Carolina drivers would get a break from gas tax increases under a plan sponsored by Sen. Paul Thurmond.
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South Carolina Association of Taxpayers 