The South Carolina Department of Transportation has annual shortfalls estimated near $1.5 billion for the repair and maintenance of existing roadways.

On Jan. 1, 1987, the state gas tax rose to 16.75 cents per gallon which was questionably adequate even then. South Carolinians pay the same rate today which yields approximately $650 million in annual fuel tax revenues. Let’s think about what this all means.

Doubling, for example, the current South Carolina fuel tax (read user fee) to 33.5 cents per gallon (gasoline and diesel) compares to North Carolina’s current 37.7 cents and Georgia’s 27.9 cents. Only Alaska and New Jersey drivers pay less per gallon than our current rate.

A 33.5 cents per gallon fee would, for example, boost annual revenues to $1.3 billion ($200 million short of fixing our crumbling roads and bridges each year). To resolve this massive funding mess by auditing or reorganizing SCDOT seems ludicrous.

Our governor’s proposal of a meager 10 cents per gallon increase plus employing Washington’s gridlock tactic of tethering an income tax reduction to it (one-unrelated-issue-with-the-other) is worse and is lousy politics at best. Increasing gas fees is justified in lieu of benefits not paid over the last 27 years and, therefore, no new net tax.

Read the full story by clicking the link below:

http://www.wspa.com/story/28947373/major-sc-bills-still-alive-at-crossover-deadline