The South Carolina Senate begins debating Thursday what to do with Governor Sanford's plea to repeal the gas tax.

Wednesday, the Governor urged the House and Senate to amend their budgets to get rid of the 17 cent gas tax South Carolina residents pay on each gallon of gas.

Sanford originally requested the tax repeal for the three months between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But early Wednesday evening, the House passed the tax suspension, just with different dates. Instead of the summer, they opted for the tax repeal from October 1st to December 31st so that the state could benefit more from tourism.

Now the disparity between the Senate's proposed budget and the amended budget from the House is upwards of $170 million, and legislators only have three weeks to reach an agreement.

Horry County Senator Luke Rankin says he's concerned. "I certainly support this, and I hope at this late hour in our Legislative session, when we adjourn on June 1st that we can take action on this."

As for repealing the gas tax for three months, that will cost an estimated $100 million. According to Governor Sanford, that can be made up through a 1 billion dollar budget surplus that we have right now.

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