This could be year for state road plan

A group of S.C. House Republican leaders will try again this session to increase the state’s gas tax. Maybe, with a new governor, they will succeed.

The bill is co-sponsored by House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, House budget chairman Brian White, R-Anderson, and House Majority Leader Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill. One Democrat – state Rep. Jimmy Bales of Richland – also is a co-sponsor.

The bill would increase the 16.75-cent-a-gallon gas tax by 10 cents over the next five years at a rate of 2 cents a year. When fully phased in, the additional tax would raise an estimated $600 million a year to repair the state’s crumbling roads and bridges.

The plan also would increase the sales tax cap on vehicle sales to $500 from $300. And motorists moving to South Carolina would pay a one-time $250 fee to register their cars.

The plan also would charge a $60 fee for hybrid vehicles and a $120 fee for electric vehicles. The rationale is that hybrids and electric vehicles use less gas but still use state roads.

The proposal is almost identical to one produced two years ago by a special House road panel led by Simrill. That plan passed by a veto-proof majority in the House in 2015 but bogged down in the Senate.

Gov. Nikki Haley has impeded any increase in the state gas tax for the past two years with unreasonable demands to couple a gas tax increase with even higher cuts in state income tax rates. Without the tax cuts, she said, she would veto the road bill.

But Haley soon will be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster will take her place in the governor’s mansion. While McMaster has refused to reveal his stance on the House plan, there is hope that he will be more amenable to it than Haley was.

If South Carolina is serious about fixing its roads, a gas tax increase almost surely must be part of the solution. Even with $600 million in new revenues from a higher gas tax – which wouldn’t be fully phased in for five years – the state still would fall short of the nearly $1 billion a year the S.C. Department of Transportation estimates it would need to make state roads safer.

But raising the gas tax is a sensible and even crucial component to any roads bill. The state gas tax, the second-lowest in the nation, hasn’t been increased since 1987.

Raising the tax would capture money from the millions of out-of-state motorists who use our roads. And even with a 10-cent tax increase, gas prices in South Carolina still would be lower than in neighboring states.

The gas tax should be regarded as a user fee paid by all who put wear and tear on our roads. Unfortunately, some lawmakers are so averse to any tax hike that they reflexively oppose one that would raise money for roads from tourists, business commuters and cross-country truckers in addition to residents.

But if lawmakers are worried about paying a political price for raising the gas tax, they also should worry about the price they could pay for failing to maintain the state’s roads. South Carolinians have listed road repairs as a top priority for years, and state lawmakers have failed to deliver.

We hope McMaster will help shepherd a road bill through the Legislature this year. But even if he doesn’t lead the way, we hope he at least won’t impede it as Haley did.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "This could be year for state road plan."